Themed “Enhancing Search and Rescue Capabilities through Regional Collaboration,” SAREX-24 highlights ICG’s commitment to providing assistance during large-scale contingencies, regardless of nationality or circumstances, across the Indian Search & Rescue Region and beyond.
The 11th edition of the Indian Coast Guard’s (ICG) National Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise & Workshop (SAREX-24) is set to take place on November 28-29, in Kochi, Kerala. Organized under the aegis of the National Maritime Search and Rescue Board, the event will be inaugurated by Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh. ICG Director General S Paramesh, who serves as the National Maritime Search and Rescue Coordinating Authority, will also attend.
Themed “Enhancing Search and Rescue Capabilities through Regional Collaboration,” SAREX-24 highlights ICG’s commitment to providing assistance during large-scale contingencies, regardless of nationality or circumstances, across the Indian Search & Rescue Region and beyond.
The two-day event will feature a combination of workshops, seminars, and a large-scale sea exercise. Day one will include tabletop exercises, workshops, and seminars, with participation from senior officials across government agencies, ministries, the armed forces, stakeholders, and foreign delegates. On the second day, an elaborate sea exercise will take place off the Kochi coast. It will simulate two scenarios, a passenger vessel in distress with 500 passengers onboard, and a civil aircraft ditching with 200 passengers.
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The response operations will demonstrate advanced technology, including satellite-aided distress beacons, drones deploying life buoys, air-droppable life rafts, and remote-controlled life buoys. Participants include ships and aircraft from the ICG, Navy, Indian Air Force, passenger vessels and tugs from the Cochin Port Authority, and customs boats.
The exercise aims to test operational efficiency, national coordination, and international collaboration with littoral and friendly nations.
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