Industry News

The scientific knowledge of survival at sea

2021-07-15
Initial difficulties encountered by sea survivors



Drowning: Falling into the water, if you can't swim without wearing a life jacket or carrying any life-saving buoys, you will not be able to stay afloat in the water. If they cannot be rescued in time, the danger of drowning will soon occur.

Immersion and exposure: The body is immersed in water, heat dissipation is much faster than on land. In this way, the human body cannot maintain a normal body temperature, and it is easy to cause excessive body heat consumption. If the climate was cold and the water temperature was low, the danger of immersing the human body in the water would be even greater, and would soon be in a low-temperature coma until death. If the human body is exposed to the hot sun, it is prone to sunburn, exhaustion, heatstroke, etc.

Thirst: In the ocean, thirst is a major danger that threatens those in distress, and the mortality rate increases as the supply of fresh water decreases. According to statistics, the mortality rate is 10% when there is 240 ml of fresh water per day, and the mortality rate increases to 90% when there is only 120 ml of fresh water per day. For survivors, fresh water is more important than food.

Seasickness: Even if a survivor is lucky enough to climb on life-saving equipment, such as lifeboats, life rafts, life-saving buoys, etc., seasickness will cause excessive vomiting, causing a lot of water loss, dizziness, and weakness.

Dangerous animals: Harmful marine animal attacks are also a threat to people in distress at sea, especially sharks. Although there are not many opportunities for shark attacks in distress at sea, it directly affects the morale of survivors.

Difficulty in rescue: Self-rescue at sea is much more difficult than other places. The ocean is a vast area of millions of square kilometers, and the climate is fickle. It is difficult to find a life raft or small boat in a fast-moving search aircraft, and it is even more difficult to find a person in distress. Furthermore, the sea is extremely violent, and even if the search plane finds a person in distress, it cannot land.


Experts pointed out that survival at sea has the following elements:



Lifesaving equipment

If a survivor at sea does not have life-saving equipment, then the hope of survival in the vast sea is obviously very weak. According to statistics, about 80% of the ships sank within 15 minutes after the wreck, and only about 1/3 of the life-saving equipment could be put down in time before sinking, which caused many people to drown and die, while 94 people climbed on the life-saving equipment. % Rescued. This shows that once you climb on the life-saving equipment, your chances of survival will greatly increase.

Self-help knowledge

Mastering some knowledge of self-rescue is very important for people in distress at sea. This knowledge includes the use of life-saving equipment and basic requirements, emergency measures, reporting the location of the accident and actions after abandoning the ship, calling for help and signal transmission, etc.

Sustaining diet

For survivors, fresh water is more important than food. The human body has nutrients stored in it, and it can maintain life for a long period of time as long as it is given appropriate fresh water every day. But if there is no fresh water, it is difficult to maintain for a long time.

If you are drifting for a long time at sea, you can catch fish and birds and collect seaweed to supplement when food is insufficient. However, if there is no adequate supply of fresh water, you should avoid eating these things, otherwise it will consume a lot of water in the body.

the scene of living

Experts believe that the premature death of people in distress at sea is not caused by hunger and thirst, but mainly by fear. Therefore, an important factor for survival at sea is a strong will not afraid of difficulties and a firm belief in survival. Therefore, we must first overcome despair and fear, and secondly be able to withstand the test of hunger, cold, thirst, and sea sickness. When you are in distress at sea, if you are not afraid of danger, busy and not chaotic, and you are fully prepared in advance, you can increase your hope of rescue.



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