HM Coastguard warns hoax callers as maritime deaths rise

HM Coastguard warns hoax callers as maritime deaths rise
Small rise in deaths at sea reported by UK coastguard

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency today released its search and rescue (SAR) figures for 2006. They show a small increase over the previous years figures.

The number of maritime deaths has also slightly increased.

For comparison, the figures for 2005 and 2006 are as follows:

	2005	2006
Total incidents reported to the Coastguard:	16,754	17,185
Total number of people rescued (where life at risk):	4,790	4,809
Total numbers of people assisted (where life not at risk):	22,477	23,113
Recorded deaths (maritime accidents):	100	124

Of the total number of 371 deaths from all causes recorded by the Coastguard:

105 were suicides/suspected suicides

68 were crime-suspected

33 were due to natural causes

124 resulted from maritime accidents

30 resulted from accidents on land or are aircraft-related.

11 occurred outside the UK Search and Rescue Region

Peter Dymond, Chief Coastguard said,

"A whole range of factors contributed to the small rise in the number of incidents reported to the Coastguard and in the number of people who were assisted, not least, I believe, our own efforts to raise awareness of the Coastguard and the service it provides. These included our very high-profile safety campaigns reminding people to alert the Coastguard by calling 999 when things go wrong. The ready availability of mobile phones now make it easier to alert the Coastguard; and the exceptional summer weather in 2006 drew more people to the coast.

“However, we are concerned by the increase in maritime deaths. As part of our accident prevention strategy, we have already put in place several long-term initiatives and we will continue to seek better preventative measures.

Peter Dymond ended with a warning to would-be hoaxers:

"The number of hoax calls to Coastguard has risen yet again, resulting in the misuse of front line rescue units. This is a waste of public money, leads to unnecessary risk and diverts resources that might be required for a real incident. We will continue to work with the other emergency services to trace these calls and provide evidence to the police for prosecutions."

(HM Coastguard photo)