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China's maritime rescue service will have a fleet of 12 helicopters at its disposal by the year 2010, a senior official said.

Four large helicopters, each capable of carrying up to 24 passengers, and eight medium-sized ones will boost the country's maritime search and rescue operations, Zhao Lu, deputy director Flight Dispatch Center, China Rescue & Salvage Bureau, said.

Currently China's maritime rescue service has four medium-sized helicopters, each capable of carrying up to 12 passengers, Zhao said. There are also five rented helicopters in service.

"The first two large helicopters for offshore rescue operations will be delivered in December," Zhao said.

The helicopters cost 160 million yuan ($21 million) each, twice the cost of a medium-sized helicopter.

"The new helicopters are equipped with a de-icing system so that they can fly safely in cold weather, a feature that our current fleet does not have," Zhao said.

The helicopters are likely to be deployed in bases around Bohai Bay, an area prone to maritime accidents due to busy traffic, she said.

So far, ground crew for the new helicopters have completed training and pilots are half way through their training, Zhao said.

With a coastline of 18,000 km, the current fleet for offshore search and rescue is inadequate, she said.

The central government had not realized the importance of building a strong offshore rescue team, including vessels and helicopters, until November 1999 when a serious ship disaster took 282 lives in Bohai Bay near Yantai in East China's Shandong Province.

The fleet's development began in 2003, when a number of modern rescue vessels and helicopters were purchased.

In the past four years, the fleet has rescued 11,980 people, including 1,781 foreigners.

But the fleet is still "young and inexperienced", Zhao said.

Rescue operations at night have never been carried out.

"This is because no pilot is qualified to fly at night. It entails special training," she said.

"People may not know that piloting a helicopter over the sea at night is a very challenging task. It is more complicated and demanding than flying over land."

The bureau has been investing heavily on the training of 22 pilots it has recruited since 2003.

"We are hastening the training process It is expected that our fleet at the Shanghai base might be able to start night search and rescue flights in 2010," Zhao said.

(China Daily 07/27/2007 page4)