Africa-Press – Mauritius. Some 30 Officers from the Special Mobile Force (SMF), the Police Helicopter Squadron, and the Maritime Air Squadron of the National Coast Guard are participating in a three-day Urban Search and Rescue Exchange, organised, since yesterday, by the United States (US) Africa Command in collaboration with the US Embassy in Mauritius and the Government of Mauritius.
The capacity-building and exchange initiative provides participants with the opportunity and platform to exchange expertise and knowledge on related search and rescue topics such as technical rescue techniques, collapsed structure intervention, rope rescue procedures and techniques, impaired vehicle extraction and medical intervention.
The instructors are namely two US para-jumpers and one rotary search and rescue pilot from the US Air Force’s 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron. This team has vast experiences in conducting missions out of Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.
In that context, a demonstration for search and rescue techniques following the passage of a calamity/ disaster in confined spaces and collapse structures was held, today, at the SMF quarters in Vacoas. High-ranking officers of the SMF, together with the US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, Mr Satrajit Sardar, and US Lieutenant Commander Matthew Kohlmann were present for the occasion.
In a statement following the demonstration, the Officer in Charge of the Disaster Response Unit of the SMF, Major Rajiv Durbarry, explained that the sharing of knowledge and ideas with the American instructors would contribute to consolidate the search and rescue techniques of officers in collapsed places and areas where access was difficult in both urban and rural settings.
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