From 19 to 24 September 2021, the Ohrid Red Cross Mountain Rescue Service took an active part in the disaster response exercise, organized by NATO – Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center. A large number of teams from neighboring countries and NATO members took part in this exercise, performing rescue activities from ruins and water in urban areas, according to scenarios for high-intensity natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, etc.).
We are especially proud that for the first time, on our initiative, two scenarios for accidents on mountains were included, realized by the MRS teams in cooperation with the special and air units of the Army and Police.
In the first scenario, the MRS teams, the special anti-terrorist unit “Tiger” and a helicopter of the Ministry of Interior, intervened to rescue two people injured in a small sport plane crash, and in the second scenario, the MRS teams in cooperation with members of the Special Forces Battalion “Wolves” and the army air force WING, performed an operation to rescue a tandem paraglider, which remained hanging on a rock twenty meters high.
In both scenarios, the teams demonstrated excellent mutual communication and coordination in performing complex rescue operations, which we hope will continue in future as a regular practice in real rescue situations.
