Mainland, Taiwan launch marine rescue exercise

Authorities from the mainland and Taiwan launched a land-sea-air search and rescue exercise in the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, which was the first of its kind in history.

The rescue and search exercise followed a mock collision of two passenger-cargo vessels in the waters off Xiamen and Jinmen.

Besides the passenger-cargo vessels, 14 rescue vessels, three helicopters and more than 400 people took part in the exercise.