China's international search and rescue team attains IEC certificate

Chinese international search and rescue team on Saturday passed the evaluation of International Search and Rescue Advisory Group External Classification (IEC).

The event made China the 12th country in the world and the second in Asia to own a heavy urban search and rescue (USAR) team which qualifies for participating in international deployments.

Eight experts from the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), an inter-governmental network under the United Nations umbrella, had been in Beijing since Thursday to determine whether the Chinese rescuers have the ability to perform tasks at international levels.

Alan Toh, the leader of the INSARAG evaluation team spoke highly of the Chinese team, saying it was "professional and well trained".

The IEC concept was established in 2005.

According to its guideline, a heavy USAR team should have the capability for difficult technical search and rescue operations instructure collapse incidents.

Chinese international search and rescue team was founded in 2001. It has participated in rescue operations in countries including Algeria, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan.

Source: Xinhua