THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF SEARCH AND RESCUE
Search and rescue operations in International waters are based on a clear legal
framework and long-standing maritime traditions. SOS MEDITERRANEE launched
its search and rescue mission in the Central Mediterranean in 2016. It is based
on the legal duty to render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of
being lost and to disembark them in a place of safety.
Keep reading below.
Search and Rescue Region
At the bottom of the chart, in light green, the Libyan SRR, above that, in ...
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a last resort intervention, for when a person is not breathing. It ...
PSC (Port State Control) is an inspection regime for countries to inspect foreign-registered ships i...
Enhanced Group Call :
Excerpt from the GMDSS Manual:
3.7.9 The EGC system, which was developed by In...
Place of Safety :
Location where rescue operations are considered to terminate. It is also a place w...
A small vessel designed to tow or push large ships or barges. Tugs have powerful diesel engines and ...
SAR Mission Coordinator
The official temporarilyassigned to coordinate response to an actual or appa...
On-Scene Coordinator:
A person designated to co-ordinate SAR operations within a specified area.
If...International Organisation for Migration :
Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmenta...
International Maritime Organisation :
United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the ...
Armed Force of Malta :
Maltese maritime authority, in charge of the Maltese SAR Service.
https://afm...
Mass Casualty Plan :
A situation where there is more than 1 unconscious person to resuscitate. In th...
Very High Frequency :
ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio ...
Rigid Inflatable Boat :
Boat with rigid hull and inflatable tubes around the hull, generally with ou...
Global Positioning System
A specific satellite-based radio navigation system in conjunction with mob...
Search And Rescue :
Search: An operation, normally co-ordinated by a rescue coordination center or r...
Mass Rescue Operation :
A mass rescue operation (MRO) is one that involves the need for immediate ...
Automatic Identification System :
The AIS is a maritime transponder, used in VHF frequency for ident...
The General Administration for Costal Security (GACS) is a Law Enforcement entity established within...
Ship Security Alert System :
Excerpt from the GMDSS Manual :
3.9.1 […] The SSAS is fitted to a ship ...
Maritime Mobile Service Identity number :
All vessels operating on the high seas require a Maritime...
Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat :
Boat with rigid hull and inflatable tubes around the hull, generally ...
Maritime Rescue Coordination Center
An RCC dealing with maritime SAR incidents.
Libyan Navy & Coast Guards
Libyan maritime authority, responsible for the Libyan SAR Service accordi...
Italian Coast Guards :
Italian maritime authority, responsible for the Italian SAR Service
http://ww...
cable: A cable length or length of cable is a nautical unit of measure equal to one tenth of a nauti...
Global Integrated Shipping Information System
https://gisis.imo.org
Website of the International Mar...
The vessel’s navigator. An especially knowledgeable person qualified to navigate a vessel through di...
Safety Of Life At Sea
The SOLAS Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most...
Global Maritime Distress and Safety System:
A global communications service based upon automated sy...
Detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can...
Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems :
Ships have long been required to carry nautical ...
= United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The UNCLOS was adopted on 10th December ...
One of the rescue RHIB onboard MV Ocean Viking with a capacity of 20 to 25 people, twin 115 horsepow...
One of the rescue RHIB onboard Ocean Viking with a capacity of 15 to 20 people, 175 horsepower engin...
Emergency floating device for critical rescue operation. The Banana is an inflatable tube of 16 mete...
Situation Report :
It gives information about on-scene mission progress and conditions. SITREPs are ...
NAVTEX provides shipping with navigational and meteorological warnings, meteorological forecasts and...
Object in the water surface or in the radar screen. Onboard the Ocean Viking, the SAR Team calls any...
International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue :
IMO guidelines for a common aviation an...
An object designed to prevent or slow the drift of a ship, attached to the ship by a line or chain; ...
Medical Evacuation: Life-saving technique based on timely transport and en route medical care of inj...
European Border and Coast Guard Agency. The aim of this EU agency is to “help EU countries and Schen...
Colibri is an airplane (MCR 4s) operated by the association Pilotes Volontaires. Its mission is to “...
Area at sea protected from the weather to leeward from the coast line
Contract between the shipowner/shipmanager and the company in charge of the operations. SOS MEDITTER...
The Beaufort scale is a scale for measuring wind speed.
See below the scale.
Line from which is measured the extent of States’ maritime entitlements.
Airplane conducting a civil aerial reconnaissance mission, run together by Sea-Watch and the Humanit...
Action to provide with a fresh supply of food and non-food items.
Reference number of the SAR operation designated by the RCC in charge. There is one SAR Case number ...
A system of geostationary satellites for world-wide mobile communications services and which support...
A situation wherein there is reasonable certainty that a vessel or other craft, including an aircraf...
The Ocean Viking makes regular stops in port to refuel, to change the crew, for the maintenance of t...
Team composed by 9 professional seafarers and rescuers, part of SOS MEDITERRANEE. They are in charge...
A ship is underway when she is in movement towards a direction/destination or drifting. A ship is no...
A liferaft is a self- inflatable emergency evacuation device. It is usually used by ships in case th...
MV Open Arms (IMO: 7325887, MMSI 224772000) of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms. Spanish flag. l...
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control is the official document in which ...
State which is responsible for the search and rescue of persons using its services and equipment wit...
Offical term to designate the people rescued from a distress situation.
General condition of the surface of the open sea. The state of the sea is described using the Dougla...
Height between the water surface and the main deck of the ship.
Deck in the aft part of the ship, where are the reception facilities for survivors and where Easy 2 ...
MV Alan Kurdi (IMO: 5285667, MMSI: 211215130) of the German NGO Sea-Eye. German flag. Length 39m, wi...
Marine VHF radio frequency designated as an international distress frequency.
The flag state of a merchant vessel is the jurisdiction under whose laws the vessel is registered or...
Situation when the Ocean Viking is standing-by or/and moving at slow speed in an area where distress...
Situation where the SAR Team transfer people from the boat in distress, from the water or from the a...
Food and non-food items necessary for the crew to live in autonomy for several days and weeks onboar...
Individual floating device which keep the body floating and the head out of the water. This can be a...
MV Sea-Watch 3 (IMO: 7302225, MMSI: 211281610) of the German NGO Sea-Watch. German Flag. Length 50m,...
Alarm Phone is part of Watch The Med project (http://www.watchthemed.net) and is an ‘alarm’ phone nu...
A situation wherein apprehension exists as to the safety of an aircraft or marine vessel and of the ...
Inflatable raft used by the SAR Team as emergency floating device during critical rescue operations.
...Ships and the ship’s captain approach a port agency to make sure that proper mooring areas are allot...
Deck in the aft part of the ship, where the reception facilities for survivors are.
European military operation, also called “operation Sophia”, launched in May 2015 and deployed in th...
The boat landing is a special ladder surrounded by 2 pillars which allow the RHIB to transfer people...
State that has sovereignty over specific territorial waters as well as sovereign rights in the conti...
Operation of transferring people or material from a ship to another.
= International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR or Hamburg Convention)
It was adopted ...
The Bouri field lies in water depths between 145m and 183m, offshore the Libyan coast, in the Medite...
A government body (city, county or state) which in international shipping maintains various airports...
Area in which a coastal state may prevent and punish infringements of its laws and regulations with ...
A generic term meaning, as the case may be, uncertainty phase, alert phase or distress phase.
Location where rescue operations are considered to terminate. It is also a place where the survivors...
Situation where the people in distress are in an unstable condition and the SAR Team has to deploy a...
Person in charge of the management of the mission for SOS MEDITERRANEE. This person is regularly on ...
As indicated under article 19 of the Montego Bay Convention, a “passage is innocent so long as it is...
= International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS or London Convention)
This text was ...
Frontex (EU Border and Coast Guard Agency) operation launched in February 2018 to “assist Italy in b...
Shipping company in charge of the management of Aquarius, including the certification of the ship, p...
A situation wherein doubt exists as to the safety of an aircraft or a marine vessel, and of the per...
Port State Control (PSC) is an inspection regime for countries to inspect foreign-registered ships i...
Parties shall ensure that assistance be provided to any person in distress at sea. They shall do so ...
LNCG
Libyan maritime authority, responsible for the Libyan SAR Service according to the Global SAR P...
A time charter – is a contract for the hire of a named vessel for a specified period of time. – may ...
Belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles from the baseline (usually the mean low-w...
“Circomare Guardia Costiera Lampedusa” is the Italian Coast Guard based in Lampedusa
Person in charge of the management of the mission for MSF.
Any body of water situated beyond 12 nautical miles from the baseline – outside the territorial wate...
Aerial maritime operation launched in March 2015 by Italy’s Ministry of Defense, to “ensure maritime...
Transfer of rescued people between two ships. This can be done by RIBs, or alongside.
The person in charge of communication onboard the Ocean Viking serves a crucial role in managing med...
OSV
These are cargo vessels that regularly transport goods, supplies or equipment in support of expl...
Person in charge of the management of the SAR Team of SOS MEDITERRANEE. This person manages the trai...
A search pattern used when the last known position of a search object has a high degree of accuracy,...
An area of defined dimensions, associated with aRCC, within which SAR services are provided.
Person in charge of the collection, treatment, archiving and publication of all the information rela...
Area where the coastal State has exclusive rights over the natural resources. However the State must...
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control is the official document in which ...
