Belgian coast guard to use drones for rescue operations at sea

The Belgian coast guard aims to soon have a drone at its disposal, which should facilitate tasks such as rescue operations at sea or infrastructure inspections. The Flemish Agency Maritime Services and Coast (MDK) and the Belgian air traffic controller skeyes signed a letter of intent in Ostend on Friday to collaborate on drones.

Thanks to this collaboration, the Flemish agency will initially have access to skeyes' air traffic data on both manned and unmanned aircraft. Skeyes and MDK will then work together to find the most suitable drone for carrying out assignments.

The drone should save the coast guard time. “The drone can go immediately to the scene of an incident, making it easier to assess which resources are appropriate to deploy,” stated skeyes spokesperson Kurt Verwilligen.

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Thanks to a project by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), MDK was already able to use a drone for rescue exercises last summer. “That went well. Now it's time for the next step,” said MDK spokesperson Dries Derudder.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Belgian coast guard rescuers during a rescue mission © PHOTO Eric Feferberg / AFP}

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