Life savers rescues 50th civilian in Nilaweli

Life Savers of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG) achieved a major milestone in their life saving activities when they rescued the 50th civilian in the Nilaweli sea area on January 14, after initiating their life saving activities in 2009.

The Sri Lanka Coast Guard which was established in July 2009 after the eradication of terrorism in the country, fulfils the task of ensuring the security, safety and serenity of the maritime environment whilst enforcing the law at sea. They are maintaining life saving as their most important duty.

Therefore, those who were saved by the life savers of the Coast Guard (CG) bear testimony for the professionalism and courage shown by these life savers when fulfilling their duty.

According to SLCG, they have initiated ‘life saving’ activities after identifying the importance of this duty and as at today the SLCG is geared with over 70 professional life savers who are qualified in standard levels such as Bronze, Intermediate, Resuscitation and Basic.

“The hard work, professionalism and dedication shown by the life savers have yielded immense results during the recent years”, the SLCG said.

To maintain the professionalism and the required standards of all life savers it is mandatory for them to undergo a monthly test, by swimming 400 metres under nine minutes, 50 metres with a rescue, 600 metres swim in rough seas and a practical test on first aid.

“Therefore, the life savers have kept to their motto ‘saving lives’.

The CG’s dedication in saving lives has been further emphasised in the CG logo with the symbol of a ‘life belt,’ which is the basic gear used for life saving by the mariners”, the SLCG says.

The vital role played by the life savers of the Coast Guards are highlighted with the rapid influx of tourists to Sri Lanka in the recent years.

“Therefore, CG life savers have so far saved 50 lives which include 38 locals and 12 foreigners from countries such as France, Korea, China, Australia, Denmark, Thailand and Napal. This will undoubtedly remain as a major achievement for SLCG as well as for Sri Lanka’s tourism sector”, the SLCG said.

“The SLCG is willing to provide the service of professional life savers for life guard duties while possible assistance from hoteliers are sought in constructing the model life saving posts in respective beach areas as they have a responsibility in ensuring the safety of their tourists who frequent the beaches”, the SLCG said.

In accomplishing its duty the CG has introduced a ‘state of the art’ life saving post at Wellawatta, which was constructed by the CG personnel.

The concept behind establishing this life saving post is to convert all present ‘life saving’ posts into such model post and to construct the future intended posts in keeping with the same design.

Apart from conducting life saving program in popular beach areas, CG has taken timely initiative to provide training to CG personnel through Mirissa CG base and the recently established life saving training school at Balapitiya.

Mobile teams of the CG have conducted a number of awareness programs for the public in various areas of the country and such programs have benefited over 4500 civilians in the recent past.

In addition to conducting public awareness events, the fishing community too has been educated on the safety aspects and other concerns related to life saving.

On identifying the importance of educating school children on life saving aspects, a series of educational programs have been initiated this year too.

The first ever ‘life saving’ training course for the Cadets of the National Cadet Corps was conducted in December last year.

Not stopping from there, CG has taken initiative to expand its life saving training for the youth who are involved in the tourism industry to acquire professional qualification by undergoing specially designed ‘life saving’ capsule at Balapitiya life saving training centre.

A large number of youths who are unemployed but willing to work in the life saving field will be immensely benefited through this initiative.

The first batch of 13 youths completed their life saving training course at Balapitiya recently.

The success of CG ‘life saving’ is largely attributed to the previous Director Generals of the SLCG Rear Admiral Daya Dharmapriya and Rear Admiral Ruwan Dias who were instrumental in bringing the standard of CG ‘life saving’ unit to the present standard.

“Sri Lanka Coast Guard strongly believes that ‘Life Saving’ is an area which must be developed to the full capacity and thereby extend maximum possible assistance to the booming tourism industry by guaranteeing that our beaches are not only safe for the public but that the SLCG is positioned to safeguard tourists both local and foreign during an event of unforeseen drowning”, Rear Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the newly appointed Director General of the SLCG said.

He also acknowledged the support given by the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development and the Sri Lanka Navy in this regard.

He says that the CG has formulated a plan for reaching the public and school children in educating them of the importance of life saving through various awareness programs and establishing model ‘life saving’ posts at identified tourist beaches.

“With this action plan, SLCG will be able to ensure a safer and secure beach environment for local and foreign tourists”, he added.

-RW