On August 20, an international emergency response exercise was held on the transboundary Amur River, which was carried out on the initiative of EMERCOM Main Office for the Amur Region and the Heilongjiang Maritime Security Administration (PRC).
The main objective of the exercise is to practice the interaction of forces and means of rescue services of two border cities in the event of an emergency on the river.
According to the plan, three kilometers upstream of the Amur from the city of Heihe, the Chinese motor ship Longke-201 with passengers on board, moving downstream, collided with a Russian barge carrying 20 tons of oil. During the collision, both vessels were seriously damaged and lost control; a fire broke out on the barge, and the fire spread rapidly. Several passengers on the ship ended up overboard.
In response to the alarm, the Heilongjiang-1 motor ship arrived at the scene, to which 95 passengers were evacuated from the damaged ship, and rescuers from the Heihe Search and Rescue Center in rubber motor boats assisted three people in the water. After the passengers were evacuated, the Chinese ship Longjiu-1501 towed the damaged ship away from the scene.
At this time, the crew of the Russian barge tried to extinguish the fire that had broken out. One crew member was injured while extinguishing the fire and required emergency medical care. A Mi-8 helicopter from the EMERCOM of Russia with rescuers on board was sent to the scene of the accident. Using special equipment, rescuers evacuated the victim from the ship and handed him over to doctors already waiting on the shore. Four crew members ended up in the water. Rescuers and GIMS employees arrived to help them from Blagoveshchensk, who brought the victims ashore, where they were provided with medical and psychological assistance.
According to the plan of the exercise, at this time an explosion occurred on the Russian ship, the barge was almost completely engulfed in fire. The leadership of the joint headquarters decided to use the BE-200 Emergency aircraft of the Khabarovsk Aviation Rescue Center of the EMERCOM of Russia and the Mi-8 helicopters of the EMERCOM of Russia and the Chinese forest protection service with spillway devices to extinguish the fire.
After the collision, one of the ships leaked oil products and an oil slick formed on the surface of the river. Chinese rescue teams installed booms and began cleaning the river surface. After this, specialists from the Amur Center for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring took water to determine contamination. According to the results of the analysis, water samples in the accident area meet the requirements, the indicators do not exceed the permissible limits.
Through joint efforts, the emergency situation was eliminated.
According to tradition, the exercises ended with a parade of equipment, which was opened by a BE-200 aircraft from the EMERCOM of Russia and two helicopters with Russian and Chinese flags. Summing up, the organizers noted that the exercises were held at a high level and cooperation between the rescue services of border cities will continue.
This is already the sixth exercise conducted by EMERCOM Main Office for the Amur Region and the Heilongjiang Maritime Safety Department on the transboundary river. All participants showed a high level of coherence.
More than 300 people and about 50 pieces of equipment, including four aircraft, took part in the exercises.
