Personnel patrolling the islands’ coasts and beaches have no water rescue qualifications, but simply the basic first aid qualification needed to obtain a nautical licence, this newspaper has learnt.
The Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) and the Police Corps’ Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) section are proud of their improved cooperation to ensure safety at sea, and rightly so.
But resources will always be limited, despite the MMA’s recent acquisition of a new dinghy, technically known as a reinforced hull inflatable boat (RHIB).
An MMA spokesman told this newspaper at a press conference on the new dinghy this week, that the personnel patrolling the coasts and beaches all have a nautical licence.
However, when asked if they have a water rescue qualification, he hesitated, saying that they do not, but added that one must first have a basic first aid qualification to sit for the MMA’s nautical licence exam.
He commented on how difficult it is to have enough human resources, so the enhanced cooperation between the police and the MMA is certainly an advantage in this regard.
“You cannot possibly have a paramedic on each of the MMA’s and the ALE’s boats,” he said.
What is truly unfortunate is that because of a lack of human resources, the police and personnel from other authorities often simply cannot be wherever they are mostly needed at the right time.
And when they are, they may lack the necessary skills required to tackle certain difficult situations. Saving lives, directly or indirectly, is after all the topmost priority of a coastguard.
It is also rather ironic, when you consider that the Maltese Islands are surrounded by sea, that so few people are qualified in water rescue.
Maybe the MMA should be more proactive, as it has been by enhancing cooperation with the ALE, and try going a step further to be better prepared for the unexpected.
By next summer, the MMA would have had enough time to set up a water rescue course and ensure that its people are fully qualified. Till then, let’s hope that last Sunday’s tragedies will be the last of this summer’s tragic accidents at sea.
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