Governments of New Zealand the Republic of Chile on Thursday signed a new arrangement enhancing the two nations’ coordination on search and rescue missions.
With a combined search and rescue (SAR) area of roughly 60 million square kilometers, the new agreement aims to improve the SAR efforts of the two countries.
Maritime New Zealand director Keith Manch signed the arrangement on behalf of the New Zealand government. His counterpart, Aviation General Jorge Gebauer from the Chilean Air Force signed the document on behalf of the Chilean government.
Maritime NZ, through the Rescue Coordination Centre NZ (RCCNZ), has the responsibility to provide land, sea and air search and rescue across a 30 million square km area that borders Chile’s search and rescue region. RCCNZ manager Mike Hill says that having the ability to collaborate and share information with Chile is crucial when conducting search and rescues over such a vast area of land and ocean.