In an official statement, the Navy announced that “166 search and rescue actions were carried out in the first half of this year, resulting in 86 lives saved, which represents a 100 percent service success rate in this first half of 2020”.

The note also underlines the existence of 67 false alerts, justified “most of the time”, with the incorrect use of safety equipment on board “namely, the radio beacons and the digital Selective call (DSC) of ships or vessels, which emit the alerts”.

All actions were carried out through the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centres of Lisbon and Ponta Delgada and also the Funchal Search and Rescue Coordination Subcentre, in collaboration with various entities, among them, the Portuguese Air Force, the Authority Marítima Nacional and INEM - Urgent Patients at Sea Orientation Centre (CODU-Mar).

“The national Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centres are operated by Navy military personnel on a 24/7 basis, ensuring coordination of all" search and rescue "actions in the Regions National Search and Rescue", adds the statement.

Under the responsibility of the Navy for the search and rescue of the Navy is an area of ??about 6,000,000 km2, "which is equivalent to 63 times the national land area", emphasises the Navy.