The epidemiology of operations performed by the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa over a 5-year period
Abstract
Background: Injuries remain a major contributor of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with drowning
accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths with rates of between 4 and 8 per 100,000. The African
region has death rates comparable to most low-income countries. Non-fatal drowning in Africa remains
unquantified but it is estimated to be ten times higher than the fatal drowning rate. Timely search and
rescue, initial resuscitation and rapid transportation to definitive care play a crucial role in preventing injury-
related morbidity and mortality. The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) of South Africa is a non-profit
organisation responsible for ~97% of maritime search and rescue operations in South Africa (including
inland navigable waters). The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiology of operations performed
by the NSRI of South Africa over a 5-year period.
Materials and methods: The NSRI operational database was analysed from 1 January 2010 to 31 December
2014. Summary statistics are presented.
Results: The NSRI launched 3281 operations over the study period. Marked seasonal variation were noticeable
with peak periods in December and January, corresponding to the South African summer holiday
season. Water-based operations (67.6%) were the most frequent operation performed. The NSRI assisted
3399 individuals of which 77% were male. The mean age of rescued persons was 42 years. Eight hundred
and thirty-six (25%) individuals had non-fatal injuries or illnesses requiring medical assistance. Medical
emergencies (35%), traumatic injuries (32.8%), and non-fatal drownings (23%) were the most common
types of injury and illness. The majority of the 184 (18%) deaths recorded were due to drowning (75%).
Conclusions: Injury and illness, specifically drowning utilise a large proportion of search and rescue services.
The results suggest further preventative measures and public health strategies be implemented to
minimise traumatic and medical incident severity and subsequent casualties at sea.
Keywords: drowningsea rescueemergency medical servicesSouth Africaaccident and emergency medicineprehospital emergency care
References
- WHO Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a leading killer [Internet]. 2014. http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/drowning_global_report/Final_report_full_web.pdf?ua=1 (cited 2015 Jan 27).
- Mortality and causes of death in South Africa, 2015: Findings from death notification. 2017. http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P03093/P030932015.pdf (cited 2017 Sep 15).
- Matthew J, Robertson C, Hofmeyr R. Update on drowning. South African Med J. 2017; 107(7): 562–565.
- eaversuch F, Nimmo L, McCausland K JJ. A Review of Drowning Prevention Interventions for Children and Young People in High, Low and Middle Income Countries. J Community Health [Internet]. https://link-springer-com.ez.sun.ac.za/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10900-015-0105-2.pdf DOI 10.1007/s10900-015-0105-2 (2017 Aug 23).
- Heggie TW. Search and rescue in Alaska's national parks. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2008; 6(6): 355–361.
- Adams AL, Schmidt TA, Newgard CD, et al. Search is a time-critical event: when search and rescue missions may become futile. Wilderness Environ Med. 2007; 18(2): 95–101.
- Canadian National Search and Rescue Manual [Internet]. http://www.casara.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/NSM_2000.pdf (cited 2015 Jan 13).
- About Us | nsri.org.za [Internet]. http://www.nsri.org.za/about/ (cited 2015 Jan 12).
- Ministry of Justice and Police. The Norwegian Search and Rescue Service [Internet]. www.redningsnett.no/Redningstjenesten/Informasjonshefter/The-Norwegian-Search-and-Rescue-Service (2002).
- Marven C, Canessa R, Keller P. Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis to Support Maritime Search and Rescue Planning. In: Li J, Zlatanova S, Fabbri A. ed. Geomatics Solutions for Disaster Management SE - 18. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg 2007: 271–288.
- National Search and Rescue Manual Volume I: National Search and Rescue System [Internet]. http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/Documents/3-50-1_Vol1.pdf (cited 2015 Jan 29).
- Royal National Lifeboat Institution (GB). Royal National Lifeboat Institution (GB) [Internet]. 2016. https://rnli.org/ (cited 2017 May 1).
- Riley D. Storms and statistics - another lifesaving year for the RNLI - News on Sailing Networks [Internet]. RNLI. 2016. http://www.sailingnetworks.com/news/read/35816 (cited 2017 Aug 31).
- German Maritime Search, and Rescue Association. The Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (DGzRS) [Internet]. 2016. https://www.seenotretter.de/en/who-we-are/portrait/ (cited 2017 May 1).
- The SNSM association. Les Sauveteurs En Mer [Internet]. 2015. https://www.snsm.org/page/bilans (cited 2017 May 7).
- Redningsselskapet. Redningsselskapet. The Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue [Internet]. 2016. https://www.redningsselskapet.no/english/ (cited 2017 May 16).
- Ela G. Epidemiology of wilderness search and rescue in New Hampshire, 1999-2001. Wilderness Environ Med. 2004; 15(1): 11–17.
- Wild FJ. Epidemiology of mountain search and rescue operations in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks, 2003-06. Wilderness Environ Med. 2008; 19(4): 245–251.
- Exadaktylos AK, Sclabas GM, Blake I, et al. The kick with the kite: an analysis of kite surfing related off shore rescue missions in Cape Town, South Africa. Br J Sports Med. 2005; 39(5): e26; discussion e26.
- WHO | Drowning Fact sheet. WHO [Internet]. 2016. http://www.who.int.ez.sun.ac.za/mediacentre/factsheets/fs347/en/ (cited 2017 Jan 28).
- Seattle, WA: IHME U of W. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBDCompareDataVisualization. [Internet] 2016. https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare (cited 2017 May 16).
