Incidents on board of ships at sea can have devastating effects on the lives of crew, passengers and the environment. This is also the case for closed seas such as the Northern Adriatic Sea, where the spill over of pollutants and the relative proximity of the shores, in case of ship fires, would provoke serious consequences, not only for the marine environment, but also for citizens living in the coastal areas. Against this background, MIRG - Maritime Incident Response Group – represent an important solution for the Adriatic Sea. This model, foresees the intervention of a trained and specially equipped squad of fire fighters, who can be transported on board of a helicopter to ships on fire at sea.
Based on other European experiences, the coordinator, i.e. the Central European Initiative -Executive Secretariat together with the three beneficiaries, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Italy, the Fire brigade of Koper, Slovenia and the Fire brigade of the Istria Region, have decided to create NAMIRG – North Adriatic Maritime Incident Response Group. Therefore, NAMIRG aims at establishing a North Adriatic efficient system of emergency response to overcome the above-mentioned disasters and protect the environment of these three countries.
