09.02.2012.

SAF search and rescue team in Cemernik in a rescue operation

Yesterday, during the president's visit to the municipality Crna Trava , the Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Ljubisa Dikovic offered the Rescue and Search Team of the Serbian Army to help the municipality of Crna Trava to establish contact with its citizen Bratislav Kocic from the village of Ostrozub on Cemernik Mountain, with whom no one has had contact for 40 days, and provide him with necessary assistance.

A 13-member team of search and rescue units of the 63rd Parachute Battalion of the Special Brigade, led by majors Dejan Stosic and Goran Stojanovic, still managed to reach Bratislav Kocic and bring him medication and food.

The whole search and rescue operation started from Predejane, where the Army of Serbia transported itself to the village of Ruplje. From there the two teams on snowmobiles and a special team set off on foot to the village of Ostrozub. Due to the amount and snow and inaccessible terrain snowmobile could reach as far as 2 kilometers from this village.

Members of the Serbian Army will spend the night in the village of Ostrozub, and tomorrow morning will begin evacuation by stretcher and snowmobile.

The search and rescue company of the 63rd Parachute Battalion is equipped with snowmobile JETY PRO V-800, model LYNX, of the Finnish production. Operators of snowmobiles are capable of transporting combat teams and supply units to inaccessible terrain in winter conditions as snowmobiles are used from December through April. Operators have completed special training in the use and maintenance of snowmobiles on Kopaonik in 2009, and they gained knowledge from instructors and specialized firms from Slovenia. Then they improved their knowledge by constant trainings. The importance of the snowmobiles was most noticeable during the skiing training on Kopaonik, and training in winter conditions on Jastrebac and Vlasina, in situations when we moved in to assist and evacuate the injured on the ski slopes. This year's severe weather situation and today's action showed how members of search and rescue services and their snowmobiles are invaluable in such difficult situations.