For the first time in four years, the Japanese archipelago is enjoying an "unrestricted" summer vacation. The sea is bustling again, but at the same time, requests for sea rescue are also increasing. When an accident is reported, the Japan Coast Guard's top rescue unit, the "Special Rescue Team," rushes to the scene by helicopter. We followed the entire tense situation, including "A parent and child have been swept away" and "Transport a sick person." ■Summer tension The base of the Special Rescue Team, commonly known as the "Special Rescue Team," which was ordered to be deployed and withdrawn three times in a row, is located in a corner of Haneda Airport in Tokyo. At the base, six teams of six people take turns being on duty 24 hours a day, waiting while undergoing training and drills. When ordered to be deployed, they will be dispatched from Haneda to all parts of Japan by helicopter or airplane. During the three-day holiday in July, beaches all over the archipelago were crowded with people. At 11:30 a.m., a call comes in from the command center. A report was received that a parent and child were swept out to sea while doing stand-up paddle boarding on the coast of Manazuru Town, Kanagawa Prefecture. The order was to conduct a search and rescue at the scene. If the parent and child were found, they changed into wetsuits in case they were rescued in the sea. They were aboard the helicopter in 10 minutes after the order was given. However, just before the helicopter took off, they received news that the parent and child had been found safely. Captain Daisuke Kato of the 2nd team: "With SUP, you just stand on the board and paddle, so you can go out to sea quite far." Since SUPs are only on a buoyant board, they are easily swept out, and similar accidents are increasing rapidly. The relief was fleeting, but then a report came in that a swimmer had been missing for two hours on the coast of Chigasaki City. Vice Captain Kento Noda of the 2nd team: "I think we'll probably start with a search." Member Naoto Kojima of the 2nd team: "They've been swept out for two hours, so I think they might have CPA (cardiac arrest)." We rushed to the scene by helicopter. Fifteen minutes after the helicopter departed, the team received information that the man had been found in a state of cardiac arrest. The team was called to action and then withdrawn three times throughout the day, and the tension of the summer was building among the team members. ■Seven divers adrift for more than two hours The whole story of the rescue In June, Okinawa, where marine leisure is popular, had a near-accident. The local coast guard rushed to the coast of Itoman City. There, seven men and women who had been diving were missing and drifting in the sea. The divers had been connecting themselves to a buoy on the sea with a rope, but for some reason the rope came loose from the buoy and they had been drifting for more than two hours. Drifting in the big waves, the divers were reaching their physical limits. The team removed the tanks from the divers' bodies and quickly prepared to lift them up. After that, all seven divers were safely rescued, and there was no danger to their lives. ■Special Rescue Team Can respond to ship fires and dangerous materials In the summer, requests for sea rescues increase. The Special Rescue Team can also respond to special sea accidents by utilizing its advanced capabilities. On the 19th of last month, a pleasure boat caught fire in Tokyo Bay. There were reports that 10 people were on board the boat... Firefighting boats and other vessels rushed to the scene and were working to extinguish the fire. We will confirm the location of the scene and select firefighting equipment. In fact, the Special Rescue Team is a special unit that can respond to ship fires and ships carrying dangerous materials. Captain of the 1st Unit, Chigi Yoshimasa: "It seems that the crew has been rescued by a nearby vessel, so we may have to tow it away." The 10 people on board were rescued safely. The Special Rescue Team was instructed to extinguish the fire on the boat and to tow it to a safe place. When the Special Rescue Team arrived at the scene, the boat had already sunk. In poor visibility, they completed their mission by attaching a buoy to prevent the boat from getting in the way of other vessels. ■ "Harsh training" every day, assuming various situations Members of the Special Rescue Team train daily, assuming various situations. Team members put cloth blindfolds inside their goggles. They deliberately create poor visibility and grope around obstacles in the water to reach their target. The training is said to be designed to search inside capsized or sunken ships. Fukushima Kazuki, second team member: "There are places in the sea where you can't see because of oil. We believe that if we can't train, we can't do it in real life, so we train ourselves by increasing the load." In another training pool, they were training to improve their "on-site reachability" to climb up ships and rocks using only their own bodies at the actual site of a marine accident. This is the "last stronghold" of marine rescue. They train every day to be able to reach and rescue people who need help in any situation. ■A person suddenly falls ill at sea The whole story of a rescue from a helicopter Off the coast of Hachijojima. A person suddenly falls ill on a Japan Coast Guard ship. Captain Kusano Yuta, 4th team: "Let's go two by two!" "If the man can walk, can you walk to the stern when the helicopter arrives?" Heading to the scene are Takada Yoshinori, a veteran paramedic with five years of experience with the Special Rescue Team, and Yamashita Daisuke, a second-year member. About 383 km southeast from Haneda, at sea. The Special Rescue Team arrived on the ship. They descended by rope to the stern of the ship, which was moving at about 10 km per hour, aiming for a small space of about 2 meters square. They guided the man, who was writhing in pain, to the lifting point. The hook that came down from the helicopter was fixed to the man's harness, and Takada held the man and rose together. Takada: "Has his condition changed? Has the area that hurts changed?" Yamashita then returned, and the rescue was completed in about 10 minutes. The man was transferred to an aircraft waiting at Hachijojima and arrived at Haneda. He was taken to a hospital and survived. Team member Yamashita: "This time, I was a little nervous because I was the first to descend from the helicopter onto the ship. (Team member Takada) is a veteran and a reliable senior, so I felt very reassured." ■ Helicopter to the scene of heavy rain disaster... The Japanese archipelago has already entered typhoon season. The Special Rescue Team can also be dispatched to carry out rescue operations in the event of a disaster caused by heavy rain. Whether at sea or on land, they will always rescue anyone who calls for help. The summer of the "Flying Sea Monkeys" Special Rescue Team is not over yet. [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp