search and rescue search and rescue search and rescue (sar) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. the general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search is conducted over. these include mountain rescue; ground search and rescue, including the use of search and rescue dogs (such as k9 units); urban search and rescue in cities; combat search and rescue on the battlefield and air-sea rescue over water. a canadian forces agustawestland ch-149 cormorant helicopter hoists a man from a canadian coast guard cutter a sar cruiser of the german maritime search and rescue service international search and rescue advisory group (insarag) is a un organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations. the duty to render assistance is covered by article 98 of the unclos. definitions there are many different definitions of search and rescue, depending on the agency involved and country in question. canadian forces: "search and rescue comprises the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger." united states coast guard: "the use of available resources to assist persons or property in potential or actual distress." united states defense department: a search is "an operation normally coordinated by a rescue coordination center (rcc) or rescue sub-center, using available personnel and facilities to locate persons in distress" and rescue is "an operation to retrieve persons in distress, provide for their initial medical or other needs, and deliver them to a place of safety". history one of the world's earliest well-documented sar efforts ensued following the 1656 wreck of the dutch merchant ship vergulde draeck off the west coast of australia. survivors sought help, and in response three separate sar missions were conducted, without success. on 29 november 1945, a sikorsky r-5 performed the first civilian helicopter rescue operation in history, with sikorsky's chief pilot dmitry "jimmy" viner in the cockpit, using an experimental hoist developed jointly by sikorsky and breeze. all five crew members of an oil barge, which had run aground on penfield reef, were saved before the barge sank. in 1983, korean air lines flight 007 with 269 occupants was shot down by a soviet aircraft near sakhalin. the soviets sent sar helicopters and boats to soviet waters, while a search and rescue operation was initiated by u.s., south korean, and japanese ships and aircraft in international waters, but no survivors were found. in july 2009, air france flight 447 was lost in the middle of the atlantic ocean. an international sar effort was launched, to no avail. a third effort nearly two years later discovered the crash site and recovered the flight recorders. in early 2014, malaysia airlines flight 370 crashed under mysterious circumstances. many nations contributed to the initial sar effort, which was fruitless. in june 2014, the australian transport safety bureau commissioned the mv fugro equator to lead a three-month survey of the ocean bed. as of 2014, the search for flight 370 had become the largest sar to date. types of search and rescue rescue rope training search and rescue students give the "i am all right" signal to let the sar instructors know that they are ready for further instructions at the pool on board naval station san diego. ground (lowland) search and rescue ground search and rescue is the search for persons who are lost or in distress on land or inland waterways. people may go missing for a variety of reasons. some may disappear voluntarily, due to issues like domestic abuse. others disappear for involuntary reasons such as mental illness, getting lost, an accident, death in a location where they cannot be found or, less commonly, due to abduction. ground search and rescue missions that occur in urban areas should not be confused with "urban search and rescue", which in many jurisdictions refers to the location and extraction of people from collapsed buildings or other entrapments. in some countries, the police are the primary agency for carrying out searches for a missing person on land. some places have voluntary search and rescue teams that can be called out to assist these searches. search and rescue agencies may contain small specialist teams for executing operations where there are specific environmental risks. examples include swift water rescue, flood response, technical rope rescue, confined space rescue, over-snow rescue, and thin ice rescue. mountain rescue mountain rescue relates to search and rescue operations specifically in rugged and mountainous terrain. cave rescue cave rescue is a highly specialized form of rescue for rescuing injured, trapped or lost cave explorers. urban search and rescue urban search and rescue (us&r or usar), also referred to as heavy urban search and rescue (husar), is the location and rescue of persons from collapsed buildings or other urban and industrial entrapments. due to the specialized nature of the work, most teams are multi-disciplinary and include personnel from police, fire and emergency medical services. unlike traditional ground search and rescue workers, most us&r responders also have basic training in structural collapse and the dangers associated with live electrical wires, broken natural gas lines and other hazards. while earthquakes have traditionally been the cause of us&r operations, terrorist attacks and extreme weather such as tornadoes and hurricanes have also resulted in the deployment of these resources. combat search and rescue combat search and rescue (csar) is search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones. maritime search and rescue a us navy rescue swimmer swims toward a stranded boat near guam in 2019 maritime search and rescue is carried out at sea to save sailors and passengers in distress, or the survivors of downed aircraft. the type of agency which carries out maritime search and rescue varies by country; it may variously be the coast guard, navy or voluntary organizations. when a distressed or missing vessel is located, these organizations deploy helicopters, rescue vessels or any other appropriate vessel to return them to land. in some cases, the agencies may carry out an air-sea rescue (asr). this refers to the combined use of aircraft (such as flying boats, floatplanes, amphibious helicopters and non-amphibious helicopters equipped with hoists) and surface vessels. the international convention on maritime search and rescue (sar convention) is the legal framework that applies to international maritime and air-sea rescue. by nation australia a rescue air crewman aboard westpac life saver rescue helicopter service lifesaver 1 in action. national the australian search and rescue service is provided by three authorities; the joint rescue coordination centre (jrcc) at the australian maritime safety authority (amsa), the australian defence force (adf) and the state/territory police jurisdictions. in a very broad sense, the jrcc respond to national and international registered aircraft, off shore marine incidents and beacon activations. the adf are responsible for australian and foreign military personnel, vehicles, vessels and aircraft while within the australian srr. police are responsible for coastal marine incidents, lost persons, unregistered aircraft, inland waterways, ports and identified beacons. the jrcc operates a 24-hour rescue coordination centre (rcc) in canberra and is responsible for the national coordination of both maritime and aviation search and rescue. the jrcc is also responsible for the management and operation of the australian ground segment of the cospas-sarsat distress beacon detection system. the jrcc's jurisdiction spans australia and as well as covering 52.8 million square kilometres of the indian, pacific and southern oceans constituting about 11% of the earth's surface. the jrcc is staffed by sar specialists who have a naval, merchant marine, air force, civil aviation or police service background. the jrcc also coordinates medical evacuations, broadcasts maritime safety information and operates the australian ship reporting system (ausrep). in coordinating search and rescue missions, the jrcc will call on assistance from organisations as appropriate, such as the defence forces, border protection command, trained aviation organisations (civil sar units), emergency medical helicopters, state police services and trained air observers from the state emergency service. there are also other organisations, such as the non-profit westpac life saver rescue helicopter service that is based at a number of sites around australia and contracted by various authorities to deliver search and rescue services. state bsar searchers at mount dom dom. state police in many states operate state-based search and rescue squads, such as the victoria police search and rescue squad, which provides specialist expertise, advice and practical assistance in land search and rescue on most terrain including snow and vertical cliff search and rescue. there are also state-based volunteer search and rescue groups such as the nsw ses bush search and rescue in new south wales and bush search and rescue victoria in victoria. these state-based groups draw searchers from bushwalking, mountaineering and specialist rescue clubs within their state. a few groups respond on horseback as mounted search and rescue. the state emergency service is a collection of volunteer-based emergency organisations established in each state or territory which are responsible for many rescue efforts in urban and rural areas and in any rescue that results from flood or storm activity. in rural areas the ses conducts most bush search, vertical and road traffic rescues. in urban areas they assist the police and fire services with usar. azerbaijan search and rescue operations in azerbaijan are managed by the ministry of emergency situations onshore in cooperation with the state civil aviation administration in air and the state maritime administration offshore. belgium search and rescue duties along the belgian part of the north sea are executed by the belgian air component. from its koksijde air base it operates 5 westland sea king mk.48 helicopters. brazil search and rescue duties in brazil are the responsibility of the salvarmar brasil (mrcc brazil), of the brazilian navy and divisão de busca e salvamento (d-sar) (english: search and rescue division), of the brazilian air force. canada canadian forces cc-115 buffalo fixed wing sar aircraft from 442 transport and rescue squadron. ch-146 griffon in sar markings boeing-vertol ch-113 labrador sar helicopter, the predecessor of the ch-149 cormorant c-130 are also used by the canadian forces for sar operations air and marine search and rescue duties in canada are the responsibility of the canadian forces and canadian coast guard in conjunction with volunteer organizations. the department of national defence (dnd) has overall responsibility for the coordinated search and rescue system. sar operations are organized by joint rescue coordination centres (jrcc). the jrcc are staffed 24 hours a day by sar co-ordinators from the canadian coast guard and canadian forces. authority for the provision of maritime sar is assigned to the minister of fisheries and oceans by the canada shipping act and the canada oceans act. ground and inland water search and rescue (gsar) is the responsibility of provinces and territories with the royal canadian mounted police (rcmp) and other police forces coordinating operations, often using volunteer gsar teams operating in specific areas under provincial coordinating bodies. the canada shipping act, most recently passed in 2001, is the framework document that funds international sar activities. the canadian forces have five assigned sar squadrons: 103 search and rescue squadron, cfb gander, ch-149 cormorant 413 transport and rescue squadron, cfb greenwood, ch-149 cormorant & cc-130 hercules 424 transport and rescue squadron, cfb trenton, ch-146 griffon & cc-130 hercules 435 transport and rescue squadron, cfb winnipeg, cc-130 hercules 442 transport and rescue squadron, cfb comox, ch-149 cormorant & cc-115 buffalo plus three combat support squadrons with sar roles: 417 combat support squadron, cfb cold lake, ch-146 griffon 439 combat support squadron, cfb bagotville, ch-146 griffon 444 combat support squadron, cfb goose bay, ch-146 griffon some municipalities and provinces have their own sar units: halton regional police service marine unit - using marine craft on lake ontario toronto police service marine unit - using marine craft on lake ontario peel regional police marine unit - using marine craft on lake ontario and rivers in peel region ontario provincial police marine unit - using marine craft on great lakes (excluding lake michigan) and georgian bay durham regional police marine unit - using marine craft on lake ontario and lakes within durham region york regional police marine unit - using