Rescue drill conducted on Yangtze River   

中国首次大型民用航空器遇险搜救演习在沪举行

秋高气爽、阳光普照的长江上海段宝山北锚地水域，26日上午响起了直升机的轰鸣声，多艘海巡船、救助船、打捞船云集这里……历时45分钟的“2012年东海民用航空器遇险联合搜救演习”在此举行。

Shanghai (CNS) -- China's first large-scale search and rescue exercise involving a civil aircraft was held Wednesday morning in the mouth of the Yangtze River off Shanghai.

The drill was designed to put our air and water rescue abilities to the test, said Xu Zuyuan, vice transport minister and head of China's Maritime Search and Rescue Center.

The 45-minute operation, sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Transport and the city government, was modeled after a United States Airways flight that landed safely in the Hudson River in 2009.

The hypothetical emergency centered on an aircraft landing on the river and catching fire after its engines had failed, stranding 132 passengers and eight crew members.

One helicopter and two patrol boats shouldered the main rescue mission, while other larger boats that were unable to reach the plane offered assistance where they could.