The Volunteer Marine Rescue have a good working relationship with the Queensland Ambulance Service, in that there's always paramedics on board for medivacs in cases where a rescue requires medical attention. The other service agency the VMR team work with is the Queensland Police Service in providing rapid response transport for officers. This ranges from emergency dashes to intervene in domestic violence, extracting intoxicated and possibly violent party goers, to also investigating reported stolen vessels.
Two dramatic emergency activations requiring their involvement were due to what seemed to be acts of piracy. In the early morning the VMR team received a desperate call from a vessel that armed persons had boarded, injured one and locked the rest in the bathroom. So, at 3am they set off at max speed to the given location at a popular Whitsunday anchorage.
Taking cover on the flybridge, the VMR team approached the mass of anchored vessels with caution. Tension was thick as they blazed the vessels with flood lights, waking the occupants of roughly twenty of the anchored vessels but there was no sign of anyone in distress. After 5 hours of investigation and revisiting the vessels, nothing was found so all parties returned to base.
The next morning the VMR crew received an emergency activation to get assistance over to a resort as some unidentified men were trying to board a vessel. However, this turned out to be a false alarm and the crew stood down. Though anticlimactic, everyone involved was glad not to meet any pirates.
If you would like to join the Volunteer Marine Rescues "exciting lifestyle" go to their website. Https://vmrwhitsundays.com.au/volunteer/ and sign up today!
Contributed with thanks to Shane Newell, President of VMRW.
VRM Rescue vessel in a popular marina. Photo Sourced: VMR Whitsunday Facebook
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