Already in operation on the Emperor Superior and Emperor Elite vessels, the Seasafe Missing Diver Location System will, says Emperor, be installed on all its liveaboards by the end of the year.
Seasafe is a ‘personal' system whereby each diver carries their own tracking device comprising a small transmitter worn either on the arm or BC. If there is a problem, they can, once at the surface, manually trigger the unit to alert boats in the area that are equipped with Seasafe to pinpoint them.
Emperor Divers reports that during a recent training and demo session the system tested accurately up to 18km away. It now hopes that other Red Sea operators will also install the system to help give search cover for many of the Red Sea's popular dive sites.
"The valuable benefit of Seasafe is the ability to respond immediately to distress signals that aren't directly critical but can be dealt with at local level without involving search and rescue resources," said Mike Braun, Emperor Divers' General Manager.
The Egyptian Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) is also reported to be planning to test the system.
* www.emperordivers.com