China's maritime rescue service will expand its fleet of helicopters more than 50 percent in next three years to improve rescue capability amid an increase in seabound traffic and accidents, an official said.

China staged its biggest- ever maritime rescue drill Friday in the East China Sea off the coast of Ningbo in Zhejiang province.

The maritime rescue service will have a fleet of 20 helicopters at its disposal by 2012, said Song Jiahui, head of China Rescue and Salvage Bureau under the Ministry of Transport.

Ten new helicopters will be delivered in the next three years, including two large-sized, four medium-sized and four small-sized, he said.

Two large helicopters - the EC225, manufactured by Eurocopter - were ordered last month and will be delivered by 2011, said Su Jinwu, director of Flying Operations Control Center of the bureau.

Costing more than 200 million yuan (US$29 million) each, the large helicopter is capable of carrying up to 24 passengers, double the capacity of the medium-sized helicopter, he said.

In 2007, the bureau imported its first two EC225 rescue helicopters, which have been operated by the maritime rescue service in the South China Sea.

"With the new EC225s in place, we expect that each of our four flight teams could be equipped with one large helicopter, which has proven very useful in saving many more people at a time," Su said.

The bureau has also ordered four medium-sized helicopters, each capable of carrying up to 12 passengers. Two of them will be delivered at the end of this year, while the other two will be delivered in the first half of next year, Su said.

Currently, the bureau has 12 rescue helicopters and fix-winged aircraft, half of which are rented, Su said.

One quarter of the 12 helicopters, as well as 35 ships and more than 1,000 personnel from the navy, local rescue and salvage departments, and the public security bureau, participated in the 90-minute drill Friday.

Jointly held by the Ministry of Transport and Zhejiang province, the drill was in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China. It also tested China's maritime rescue capabilities in preparation for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, said Li Shenglin, minister of transport.

Maritime rescue has become increasingly important in the past decade in China, because of the fast-rising traffic along its 18,000-km coastline.

The bureau is receiving an increasing number of calls for help. It received 1,093 requests for rescue services last year, almost 10 times the requests logged a decade ago, according to official statistics.

The bureau started to reform the rescue system in 2003, moving rescue vessels closer to busy sea routes and expanding and upgrading the equipment.

Maritime rescuers' response times in the past year have become quicker. At present, 84 percent of the time, rescue service can arrive at an accident site less than 50 nautical miles from the shore in 150 minutes or less.

A total of 3,079 people were saved by rescuers last year, including 484 foreigners, compared to 1,375 people in 1999, according to the bureau statistics.

(China Daily September 5, 2009)