Dong Zhen/Shanghai Daily news

A rescue vessel sprays water on Hailing, a Chinese cargo ship which caught a fire in a mock collision yesterday during the country’s largest-ever marine search and rescue drill in the East China Sea. -Wang Rongjiang

China's largest-ever marine search and rescue drill was carried out in the East China Sea, near Yangshan Deep-water Port, yesterday but foggy weather prevented four helicopters, including one from the Hong Kong Government Flying Service, from joining the exercises.
The one-hour united drill was based on a mock collision between a Chinese cargo vessel, Hailing, and a foreign container ship, Park Trader.
Twenty-five vessels from different Chinese departments such as the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration and the Chinese Navy East China Sea Fleet shared the search and rescue tasks.
Fifty people, randomly selected through online applications, were invited to Shanghai Jiari, a passenger liner, to witness the emergency drill.
Two rescue craft from the coast guards of Japan and South Korea were also invited to observe the event.
With signal flares rising into the sky, the marine exercise kicked off at about 10:45am. The first scenario involved emergency location and rescue of five crew members who had fallen into the sea from the cargo vessel, Hailing. The mock collision caused serious damage to the vessel and set it on fire with oil spills.
The sailors soon lit red fume bombs to inform the rescuers of their location.
The first sailor was spotted and pulled to the rescue boat at about 10:54am and it took about 20 minutes to help all the sailors out of the water.
Within minutes, sounds of blasts reverberated from the Hailing, a pointer the fire had spread quickly.
Firefighters soon arrived to put out the blaze and a professional oil-cleaning ship was called to the scene to clear off the spills to avoid sea pollution.
Meanwhile, the rescue center received tips that explosives were detected on board the Park Trader, the foreign container ship, seriously threatening the safety of Shanghai Port.
Officials explained the scenario was supposed to test the emergency response abilities among different departments if a ship off the local coast were to come under terrorist attack. Bomb disposal experts were rushed on board the ship in trouble by maritime police boat at about 11:30am. They successfully located and removed the bombs within minutes.
More than 1,000 personnel from 24 departments took part in the drill. The headquarters of the exercise was located on Hai Xun 31, China's best maritime cruise ship in terms of high-tech equipment. The drill was completed at about 11:40am.
Officials said the exercise also provided an opportunity for authorities to test the safety administration of the under-construction Yangshan port, an important project for upgrading Shanghai's position as an international shipping center.