marine craft on lake simcoe niagara regional police marine unit - using marine craft on niagara river and lake ontario vancouver police department - using marine craft on waterways around the city of vancouver heavy urban search and rescue (toronto) - using land base equipment brockville police service marine patrol unit - using a boat on the st. lawrence river there are also volunteer non-profit associations that conduct sar in canada: british columbia, there are 80 community based volunteer groups in b.c. providing gsar services within assigned areas in conjunction with police, ambulance and other agencies. the gsar groups are represented by the british columbia search and rescue association alberta / bc cave rescue, alberta/british columbia canada task force 2, alberta civil air search and rescue association ert search and rescue grande prairie technical search and rescue association, alberta halifax regional search and rescue - nova scotia north shore rescue, british columbia. pincher creek search and rescue, alberta québec secours, québec. river valley ground search and rescue, new brunswick roberts bank lifeboat - delta, bc royal canadian marine search and rescue (rcm sar) sauvetage bénévole outaouais - ottawa volunteer search and rescue - ottawa, on and gatineau, qc search and rescue manitoba (sarman), manitoba vancouver urban search and rescue (canadian task force one), british columbia york sunbury search & rescue - new brunswick croatia a boat of the search and rescue service in trogir, spring 2014 in croatia the sar service is part of the croatian navy and the croatian coast guard with their headquarter in rijeka. cyprus a cyprus air force aw139 sar helicopter during a search and rescue demonstration the cyprus republic search and rescue (sar) system is organized by the cyprus joint rescue coordination center (jrcc larnaca). the jrcc (greek: κέντρο συντονισμού έρευνας και διάσωσης) is an independent agency of the ministry of defence of the republic of cyprus that started its operations on a 24h basis on 7 august 1995 as a unit of the cyprus air force command. on 1 march 2002, the jrcc took full responsibility for investigating, organizing, coordinating and executing every sar incident-operation in the republic of cyprus search & rescue region (srr). jrcc larnaca operated as a military unit until 26 july 2010, when jrcc was transformed to an independent agency under the ministry of defence with the minister being responsible for its operational aspects. logistic and technical support is the responsibility of the ministry of communications & works. its primary mission is to organize the cyprus republic search and rescue system, to co-ordinate, control and direct sar operations in its area of responsibility (which is identical to the nicosia fir), in order to find and rescue people whose lives are at risk, as a result of an air or naval accident, in the least possible time. this is achieved by coordinating all the different agencies involved such as the cyprus police aviation unit, the cyprus port and naval police, the cyprus national guard naval command, the cyprus national guard air force command, the cyprus civil defence and other secondary units. the jrcc reports directly to the operational control of the ministry of defence and it is staffed by qualified personnel of the cyprus national guard, mainly from the branches of the navy and the air force. northern cyprus there are also search and rescue teams in northern cyprus. search and rescue operators in turkish republic of north cyprus are primarily: sstb civil defence organization presidency (turkish : sivil savunma teşkilat başkanlığı) emergency management committee dak search and rescue in natural disasters (turkish : doğal afetlerde arama kurtarma) akut trnc military trnc coast guard command trnc coastal safety (police) security forces command search and rescue teams. denmark royal danish air force s-61a with its rescue swimmer search and rescue operators in denmark are primarily: danish air force squadron 722, danish navy air squadron, naval home guard and the danish maritime safety administration, coordinated by the joint rescue coordination centre, operated by the navy and air force in the danish naval commands facilities near aarhus. internationally the danish works mainly with germany, norway and sweden. with the two latter, the annual exercises baltic sarex and scan-sar are conducted. sar services in denmark started in 1957 with seven sikorsky s-55s. their piston engines produced only 550 hp (410 kw) and they had limited fuel capacity, so their operational range was short. to increase the operational area, pembroke twin-engined fixed-wing aircraft were employed for search. these aircraft would localize the distressed person(s) and the s-55s would then rescue them. the sar service was started for respond to fighter-plane crashes as 79 aircraft crashed, with 62 dead, in the period 1950–1955., but civilian sar duties are also conducted. in 1962, eight ship-based aérospatiale alouette iiis were received. these were primarily meant for the ships patrolling the north atlantic, but also supported the s-55s. in 1964–1965 the seven s-55s were replaced with eight sikorsky s-61a helicopters. wikimedia commons has media related to rescue helicopters in denmark. in 2007, the danish defence held a public display in horsens, to raise awareness about rescue services and maritime safety. maritime sar is important because denmark has a relative long coast line to its land mass. in 2008, the sar forces in denmark were equipped with eight eh-101, one or two lynx, 34 naval home guard vessels and 21 rescue vessels, as well as the naval vessels at sea. the eh-101s operate from bases in aalborg, skrydstrup and roskilde. when the sea water temperatures are low a helicopter is also deployed to the island of bornholm in the baltic sea. the lynx operates from karup. maritime vessels are spread out through the entire coastline and on islands. the s-61s and eh-101s have a crew of six: two pilots, a navigator, a flight engineer, a physician and a rescue swimmer. estonia sar training by the estonian border guard. the estonian border guard (piirivalve) is the estonian security authority responsible for the border security. it is the main support organisation for search and rescue missions in estonia, and operates a small fleet of sar vessels and helicopters. finland in finland local rescue services (i.e. fire departments) are responsible for land and inland water sar, the border guard is responsible for maritime areas. these organizations alert and decide on the most suitable response for the location and situation. the country also has several volunteer organizations such as the volunteer fire department (vpk), the finnish lifeboat institution (smps) and the red cross finland (spr). france a french all-weather lifeboat from the snsm. the société nationale de sauvetage en mer (snsm) provides sea rescue on the french coast and at seas. in 2016, they helped 7,500 people in 5,200 rescues. the service has 41 all-weather rescue boats, 34 first-class rescue boats and 76 second-class lifeboats. germany a cruiser of the dgzrs and a seaking helicopter of the german navy search and rescue in german waters is conducted by the german maritime search and rescue service with air support by the german navy and the german army aviation. all incoming requests are coordinated by the maritime rescue coordination center in bremen. the dgzrs is a non-governmental organization entirely supported by donations. besides the offshore search and rescue services, the german army aviation provides 3 sar command posts on a 24/7 basis with the bell uh-1d huey at holzdorf air base and the airbus h145 luh sar (light utility helicopter search and rescue) at nörvenich air base and 2 at niederstetten army airfield. further, the technisches hilfswerk is a key component of the german disaster relief framework. it is, among other things, regularly involved in urban search and rescue efforts abroad. hong kong hong kong gfs as332 l2 super puma sar helicopter hk gfs ec155 helicopter royal air force westland wessex hc2 sar helicopter off hong kong royal hong kong auxiliary air force aérospatiale sa 360 dauphin sar helicopter sar operations are conducted by the government flying service (gfs) and before 1993 by the royal hong kong auxiliary air force. the gfs conducts maritime sar within the 400-nautical-mile (740 km) radius of the hong kong flight information region (fir). as of 2020, the gfs fleet consists of nine aircraft including: 2 bombardier challenger 605 - for aerial sar surveillance 7 airbus helicopters h175 - for inshore and offshore sar other civilian search and rescue units in hong kong include: civil aid service - works in conjunction with the hong kong fire services dept and the air support from the government flying service, also provides mountain rescue service hong kong fire services/hong kong marine police - various vessels and rescue divers - with air support from the gfs hong kong maritime rescue co-ordination centre is responsible for coordinating other civil agencies in regards to marine sar operations in waters around hong kong countryside volunteer search team iceland icelandic coast guard eurocopter as-365n dauphin 2 helicopter the icelandic coast guard is responsible for coordinating all maritime and aviation search and rescue activities in the icelandic search and rescue region (srr), that has the size of 1.9 million square kilometres. the icelandic coast guard operates jrcc iceland in combination with the coast guard's operation centre, the maritime traffic service and the coastal radio stations. if aircraft crash site is located on land the control of the rescue operations is diverted to the icelandic police, which is responsible for sar operations on land. the icelandic coast guard (jrcc iceland) is the cospas-sarsat sar point of contact. isavia, which operates the air traffic control in iceland, is responsible for the aviation alerting services. the icelandic coast guard operates maritime patrol aircraft, sar helicopters and patrol vessels. the icelandic association for search and rescue (slysavarnafélagið landsbjörg) (icesar) is a volunteer organization with about 100 rescue teams located all around the island. icesar is a great support to sar operations both on land and sea. all the rescue teams contain groups of specially trained individuals. a specialized insarag external classification certified rubble rescue squad operates under the icelandic association of search and rescue. it was the first rescue squad to arrive in haiti following the earthquake of 2010. indonesia the national search and rescue agency of indonesia known in indonesian as badan nasional pencarian dan pertolongan abbreviated "basarnas", is a government agency responsible for conducting search and rescue duties nationally in indonesia. basarnas may also be assisted in conducting sar in indonesia by the tni, mobile brigade corps, and local fire brigade units. ireland irish coast guard sikorsky s-61n sar helicopter a search and rescue demonstration by an irish coast guard sikorsky s-61 helicopter and a rnli lifeboat. maritime sar services are provided by two civilian bodies - the irish coast guard and the rnli. the coast guard has responsibility for the irish search and rescue region. the royal national lifeboat institution has 43 lifeboat stations including inland stations at enniskillen and lough derg, the coastguard inshore rescue boats, and community rescue boats at fifteen stations: ballinskelligs - co. kerry, ballybunion - co. kerry, ballyheigue - co. kerry, banna - co. kerry, bantry - co. cork, bunmahon - co. waterford, cahore - co. wexford, carna - co. galway, corrib/mask lakes - co. galway, derrynane - co. kerry, limerick city (river shannon), mallow search and rescue - co. cork, schull - co. cork, tramore - co. waterford, waterford city river rescue, waterford marine search & rescue. there are some 25 other independent rescue services. mountain rescue in ireland is provided by 12 voluntary teams based in different regions of the country. the ircg operate a number of contracted sikorsky search and rescue helicopters from bases in dublin, waterford, shannon and sligo under the €500 million contract, from 2010, a previous fleet of sikorsky s-61n helicopters were replaced with five newer sikorsky s-92 helicopters. one of the new s-92 helicopters is located at each of the four ircg bases, with one spare replacement aircraft being rotated between bases. the irish coast guard are launching a tender for a future sar aviation contract, which is one of several tenders for similar services. the irish air corps provide top cover for search and rescue over land or sea and is available for maritime and mountain rescue if needed. the irish naval service frequently assists the other agencies in search and rescue. its patrol ships at sea