Most major disasters in water transport occur under the influence of a natural disaster (hurricane, storm, typhoon), as well as due to the fault of people (serious deficiencies made during the design and construction of ships or during their operation).
All crew members are involved in the work of eliminating the consequences of the disaster and rescuing drowning people, and, if necessary, by the decision of the captain, other persons on the ship. The general management of rescue operations is performed by the captain of the ship.
The main task in eliminating the consequences is:
•. rescuing people in distress;
• struggle to save the ship;
• extinguishing a fire when it occurs;
• providing first aid to victims.
When carrying out rescue operations and other urgent work on oil tankers, the loading or pumping of oil products is stopped and the following work is performed:
• windows of hatches, not containers, are battened down
are burning; • cooling of burning
tanks, decks and sides of ships;
• empty containers are filled with water or
inert gas;
• a barrier is organized for
preventing burning liquids from spreading over
water areas.