Hong Kong’s marine police have for the first time deployed two jet skis to boost their search and rescue capabilities in shallow water amid a surge in incidents.
The two new jet skis, a pilot scheme to be based in Sai Kung, will be used for rescue missions. Officers praised the small and manoeuvrable machines for their ability to move close to the shore faster.
“At the moment, we do have some shallow water craft, but they’re still limited by the [shore],” Kezia Tsang Kit-ying, the assistant divisional commander of the marine east division, said on Tuesday.
“We do lack the ability to beach, and that is a gap in operation we have to address. With these two jet skis, hopefully we can reach the scene quicker and be more efficient in rescues.”
The rented machines, crewed by two police officers, have room for three people on board and a casualty can be towed on a special float board to a supporting speedboat further offshore.
Tsang said the jet ski could get closer to people in the water because they had no exterior propellers and they were just 3.6 metres by 1.3 metres (11.8ft by 4.2ft).
Daniel Wong Yiu-pong, the operations support subunit commander, explained that jet skis were ideal for rescue work because of their speed and agility.
“These jet skis are fast – their maximum speed can reach up to 50 nautical miles [92.6km] per hour, providing us with the speed to reach victims … Since these jet skis can also work on beaches, this would fill a slight limitation in our fleet now,” Wong said.
Marine police use speedboats to reach victims at present, but officers have to swim to people in difficulties on beaches or in shallow waters because the speedboats do not have a shallow enough draught to get in close.
Wong said the Fire Services Department had supplemented police missions in the past with its own jet skis.
A total of 82 people have been saved and eight died in 65 marine safety search and rescue missions in the district up to July.
Police in Sai Kung carried out 76 rescue missions in Sai Kung last year, with 167 rescued and eight deaths.
Tsang attributed the increase in incidents to the popularity of watersports after the end of anti-coronavirus measures in the city.
“Five out of the eight deaths last year, as well as this year, were caused by drowning,” he said. “In some cases, the person may have been drowning for 10 minutes before [someone else] noticed that the person was not responding.”
Three of last year’s deaths were swimming accidents and two happened during boat trips. Five of the eight deaths so far this year involved boats.
Marine police said they would evaluate the jet skis in November before they decided whether to buy some of the craft as a permanent addition to the fleet next March.
The force declined to disclose the rental cost for the jet skis, which carry high-visibility blue and yellow fluorescent markings similar to police traffic cars, or where they were rented from.
Potential operators of the craft will need a marine police coxswain’s certificate, a bronze medal in the Hong Kong Life Saving Society’s training scheme and considerable nautical experience to be considered.
Officers will also have to undergo a jet ski training programme run by the society as well as in-house training.
The coaches for jet ski crews will need to take driving and coaching lessons from mainland China’s General Administration of Sport.
A total of 16 officers have qualified as squad members so far, and four will head to Sanya, Hainan in mainland China to qualify as coaches.
Marine police have also deployed drones to find victims and scout out the surroundings in Sai Kung since June.