SINGAPORE: Singapore will hold its largest maritime exercise in about two weeks. Code-named Northstar VI, it will involve 12 agencies from the public and private sector.

The simulated fire-rescue operation aims to test a multi-agency response involving mass casualties out at sea. This exercise is similar in scale to the previous Northstar land exercise two years ago.

Northstar VI will take place onboard a luxury cruise ship. On the day of the exercise, there will be a simulated fire on board the SuperStar Aquarius, some three kilometres offshore.

Firefighting and rescue vessels will be deployed to help. The Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and Marina South Pier will serve as receiving points for survivors and casualties before they are taken to Changi General Hospital.

Some 40 sea vessels will help evacuate passengers back to land and a Super Puma helicopter will be on standby to air-lift the severely injured.

The Changi-Simei Community Club will be turned into a family assistance centre to help anyone locate and get in touch with relatives.

As this exercise is out at sea, it will pose different challenges from the previous one, which simulated near simultaneous attacks at multiple land transport hubs.

Colonel Eric Yap, Director Operations, Singapore Civil Defence Force, said: "One major challenge as far as a maritime scenario as compared to a land-based scenario is that of accessibility to the incident site. In a maritime scenario, these challenges will be multi-fold and of course it will require a lot of ships and boats to be able to mobilise land-based resources to move towards the incident site that is out at sea."

While the luxury cruiser can carry some 2,800 passengers and crew, no real passenger will be on board during Northstar VI.

On the day of the exercise, SuperStar Aquarius will drop off its cruise passengers, before taking on the role-players at around 10am. After the exercise is over, the ship will go back to shore to pick up more passengers for its night cruise, which starts at 9pm.

David Wendel, Vice President, Nautical Ops, Star Cruises, said: "We will return to cruise bay and be back about 4.30pm when we start to embark our normal passengers and leave for a cruise as per normal.

"We still need to do all the cleaning, the turn around, but they're still going to participate in this exercise. There will be some extra overtime, but we think that this is so important for us to participate (in)."

The Marina South Pier will be closed during the exercise, while the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal will be partially closed. - CNA/vm