China hold biggest maritime rescue drill for World Expo

Watch Video

Play Video

China's maritime rescue services have carried out their biggest-ever operation in the East China Sea. This morning's exercise tested the country's maritime rescue capabilities and security in preparation for next year's Shanghai World Expo.

The Ministry of Transport teamed up with eastern China's Zhejiang Province to stage the mammoth-scale operation. The exercise included 35 ships, three aircraft and more than one thousand personnel. The exercise simulated a collision between a passenger ship and a cargo vessel loaded with chemicals, sparking a fire and a benzene leak. Rescuers reacted by recovering people in danger, controlling the chemical leakage, and evacuating some 16,000 people living along the coast.