PONANT recently organised the world’s first international rescue exercise in a remote polar zone (pictured), during a trial voyage to the North Pole aboard Le Commandant Charcot. The one-off on-site scenario was live, and coordinated between Ponant’s on-board and head office teams, as well as teams from Canada, Greenland, Iceland,...
PONANT recently organised the world’s first international rescue exercise in a remote polar zone (pictured), during a trial voyage to the North Pole aboard Le Commandant Charcot.
The one-off on-site scenario was live, and coordinated between Ponant’s on-board and head office teams, as well as teams from Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, and the United States.
American and Canadian coastguards, as well as Norwegian Arctic rescue experts were also present as observers.
The exercise took place over a 24-hour period on the ice, during which the 67 participants had to set up a polar survival camp, among other tasks.
The objectives of the simulated rescue exercise were to optimise the coordination between the region’s international rescue centres, & conduct medical research and behavioural studies on participants to understand the impact of spending long periods of time on the ice.
Conclusions are being shared with polar environment experts and will help the expedition cruise industry and rescue centres across the world.
