The Navy’s Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit conducts maritime rescue training, involving a UH-60 chopper, above waters off a naval port in Jinhae, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 17, 2023, as part of its wintertime drills. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Braving near-zero temperatures, a group of elite naval forces threw themselves into frigid waters during their annual cold-weather training in a southern town on Wednesday, highlighting their mission to protect citizens “wherever you need us to be.”
Some 100 members of the Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit (SSU) in full scuba gear engaged in the regular three-day training in waters off Jinhae, home to strategic naval operations, according to the armed service. This year’s edition ends Thursday.
The deep-sea divers conducted “extreme-weather” physical fitness training, including open-water swimming, on the second day of the training.
The previous day, they joined a rescue drill with a Navy air squadron, where SSU members descended from a UH-60 helicopter to pick up swimmers in the sea, using a rescue strop or a rescue basket.
For the final-day session, the soldiers will compete in teams in a triathlon consisting of running, rubber boat pedaling and swimming, to help enhance the unit’s teamwork.
Members of the Navy’s Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit jump into waters off a naval port in Jinhae, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 18, 2023, as part of the unit’s wintertime drills. (Yonhap)
“With the sense of duty to safeguard the lives and safety of the people by going to wherever the people need us to be, (we) will continue to maintain our rescue operations posture,” Cdr. Jeon Soo-il was quoted by the Navy as saying.
Such grueling training programs have formed the basis of their steadfast readiness that has enabled them to carry out tough salvage operations, such as those during the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 and of a tourist boat in Hungary in 2019.
The SSU was launched in 1950 as one of the Navy’s special forces.
(Yonhap)
