Coast Guard busy: Had to prioritize

Iceland's Coast Guard experienced a particularly demanding day, responding to four separate calls for its helicopters, TF-GRO and TF-GNÁ. The intense operational tempo required careful prioritization of resources.

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In such cases, one must prioritize and it was decided to go to the fishing vessel first.

The first call came from Flatey, followed shortly by a request for assistance from a cruise ship located north of Iceland. While TF-GRO was en route to the cruise ship, a third emergency call arrived concerning a medical emergency aboard a fishing vessel also operating north of the country.

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The helicopter is immediately going to pick up an individual on the cruise ship.

In such situations, the Coast Guard must prioritize. Officials decided to attend to the fishing vessel first, evacuating the sick fisherman to Akureyri hospital. After this critical mission, the helicopter was scheduled to proceed to the cruise ship.

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It is not every day that the Coast Guard's helicopters respond to four calls on the same day. There has been a lot of pressure this summer.

Additionally, TF-GNÁ was dispatched to Patreksfjörður for a medical evacuation of a sick individual. Ásgeir Erlendsson, the Coast Guard's information officer, noted that having four calls in a single day is unusual and reflects a significant increase in operations this summer. He stated that calls are up by approximately 10% compared to last year, with summer operations seeing a 35% surge, placing considerable strain on crews and control centers.

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Calls so far this year are about 10% more than last year. Especially calls this summer have been numerous, or 35% more than at the same time last year. The pressure has therefore been very high on the crews, the control center, and those involved in these calls.