Sansha rescue center saves 113 people in 2016

HAIKOU -- The search and rescue center in China's southernmost island city Sansha successfully rescued 113 people in 2016, both helping save people's lives and assets.

The center mobilized 13 vessel and six aircraft trips in 21 emergencies, securing a 99.1 percent success rate, the center said.

Over the past year, the center helped resist four tropical storms, or typhoons, that swept across the city, it said in a statement.

It also organized maritime emergency response drills for nearly 300 people from 19 organizations in the city.

Sansha was established in July 2012 to administer more than 200 islets, sandbanks and reefs in the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha groups as well as 2 million square kilometers of surrounding waters in the South China Sea. The city search and rescue center was inaugurated the following year.