Cyprus and France strengthened their search and rescue cooperation through a joint maritime exercise held on Wednesday. The exercise, CYFRA 04/26, was coordinated by the search and rescue coordination centre and involved a French warship and its onboard helicopter, along with Cypriot air and maritime assets and the ambulance service’s specialised Medevacteam.

A helicopter from the port and maritime police, an air force helicopter from the 460th aviation squadron of the National Guard and a police helicopter also participated.

The centre said the exercise formed part of the defence cooperation programme between Cyprus and France and was designed to strengthen existing coordination on search and rescue operations.

Its purpose was to “further develop the existing cooperation” with the French armed forces on search and rescue matters and provide crews with training in operational procedures for responding to incidents at sea.