17.09.2019.
Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in SAREX 38-19
Full-capacity search and rescue exercise SAREX 38-19 began at Nikola Tesla Airport with a night-vision demonstration on the topic of ‘Big Aircraft Crash within the Airport Area’. Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin attended the exercise.
Addressing the attendees on behalf of the organisers, Mirjana Čizmarov, Director of the Civil Aviation Directorate of the Republic of Serbia, pointed out that this year's SAREX 38-19 represents the largest simulation of crashes of aircraft and the activation of the civilian and military search and rescue system in the Republic of Serbia.
- During the two days of the exercise, you will have the opportunity to see how the search and rescue system works in Serbia, through organisation of four different scenarios, as well as the opportunity to look at new search and rescue resources purchased by the Republic of Serbia in the previous period – Čizmarov said, saying that the exercise is aimed at demonstrating preparedness and technical competence of the participants engaged in the aviation search and rescue system in the Serbian civil aviation.
In addition to the organisers, participants in this year's exercise are the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services - SMATSA Ltd. Belgrade, Nikola Tesla Airport, Mountain Rescue Service, Serbian Red Cross and the City of Vršac.Tonight's segment of the exercise, performed at the Nikola Tesla Airport, included the members of the Military Medical Academy as well. According to Lieutenant Colonel Goran Rondović of the MMA Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Clinic, this is just one of a series of exercises conducted within the system of cooperation between the MMA and Civil Aviation Directorate regarding search and rescue after air traffic accidents.
- The Military Medical Academy participates here in two segments. One is arrival of a mobile team to the scene of the accident to take seriously injured patients, and the second is to take over the seriously injured patients who, in cooperation with the Serbian Armed Forces, are transported to the MMA heliport, where our mobile team takes them over and continues the treatment. Colonel Rondović explains and adds that the participation of the MMA in the exercise is important because it puts the MMA in the forefront as a highly specialised institution providing its services to both citizens and all air traffic passengers that are on the flight over our country or in transit through our country.
The second part of the SAREX 38-19 will be held tomorrow at the Vršac Airport, whеre the participants will demonstrate procedures and actions in the event of a crash of a smaller aircraft in the airport area, a crash of a smaller aircraft in a harsh terrain and evacuation of a paraglider from a tree in a harsh terrain. This will be followed by a tactical and technical display showing the rescue equipment of the participants in the exercise.Tomorrow's SAREX 38-19 exercise activities will involve the Air Force and Air Defence units, the Special Brigade units and the MMA.
The presentation made at Nikola Tesla Airport was also attended tonight by Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs Zoran Đorđevic, Commander of the Air Force and Air Defence Major General Duško Žarković, as well as representatives of the institutions engaged in the exercise.
