A marine fishing boat fire and rescue emergency drill is staged in Lyusi Port, Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong on July 27. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

A marine fishing boat fire and rescue emergency drill was staged in Lyusi Port, Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong on July 27. The activity was co-sponsored by the Jiangsu fishing port supervision administration, the Nantong agriculture and rural affairs bureau and the Qidong municipal government.

Differing from former drills, the emergency drill focused on the self-rescue of a single boat, the first time such an exercise had been conducted in Jiangsu province. A single-boat self-rescue drill differs from conventional mutual aid and professional aid drills, and is necessary given the requirements of timeliness in external aid emergency rescue.

It is hard for external rescuers to reach a boat in distress quickly enough during offshore operations on the vast sea. Self-rescue, on the other hand, can lessen danger and reduce losses.

Marine fisheries work is identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a high-risk industry. China also lists fishery work among the top eight most dangerous occupations.

Centering on the three main types of water accidents – near-drowning, shipwreck and fire, the drill consisted of life saving, fire control and ship abandonment. In accordance with contingency deployment lists and job safety responsibilities, the crew responded to the emergency situations under the commands of the captain.

"Carrying out single-boat self-rescue emergency drills can effectively test the fishermen's mastery of firefighting and life-saving skills and the internal emergency management system of the fishing vessel, help fishermen get familiar with the contingency deployment list and job responsibilities and maintain self-rescue awareness at all times, so as to transform emergency skills into real self-rescue capabilities," said Zhu Weixing, head of the Jiangsu fishing port supervision administration.