Mass Rescue Operations Guidance for Maritime Search and Rescue Organisations

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) defines a mass rescue operation as “characterised by the need for immediate response to large numbers of persons in distress, such that the capabilities normally available to the search and rescue authorities are inadequate”. 

MROs are large, complex - and rare. But this means that SAR organisations are usually inexperienced at responding to them. It is vital to learn from the experience of others.   

The IMRF has compiled an online MRO Library, to share that experience. 

The IMRF’s MRO Library contains comprehensive guidance, including: 

• Discussion of the challenges and ‘the capability gap’;
• Guidance on planning, and a template MRO plan;
• Guidance on identifying the necessary additional resources;
• Guidance on coordination and communications structures;
• Guidance on training, testing, and learning from experience;
• Additional information provided by maritime SAR organisations from around the world.

The guidance in the IMRF’s MRO Library is intended for use by any SAR organisation who may find it helpful, and hence is freely available on the IMRF’s website. 

The IMRF’s own MRO guidance is provided in 30 separate chapters. These may be viewed below. For a general introduction, please see Chapter 1, ‘Complex incident planning – the challenge: acknowledging the problem, and mass rescue incident types’.

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