[Source: Republic of Fiji Navy/Facebook]

The operational cost associated with search and rescue missions by Fiji Navy runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Navy Commander Captain Humphrey Tawake, says these unnecessary costs can be saved if people become more responsible and make informed decisions before going out at sea.

“If we’re charting a boat to respond to any situation in the first day that is $40,000 automatically. And in subsequent days that follows that will be another seven to ten thousand dollars of extra fuel that we will use. Say if we spend another five to ten days it reaches the hundreds and thousands of dollars very easily.”

Captain Tawake says this does not include aerial search.

“The aeroplanes that we do hire if it is required out of Nausori or out of Nadi. That’s about four to five thousand dollars an hour. If we spending about ten hours, that’s easily another $60,000. So the costs is quite enormous for an economy like Fiji”.

Police say deploying their officers to such missions not only costs the Force thousands of dollars but also puts lives at risk.

The Fiji Navy in its search and rescue missions last year saved 245 lives.

It says majority of the cases were due to sheer negligence during bad weather.