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A Suggested Frame ...

Therefore, an accident onboard a ship at sea would eventually affect multiple
stake holders. Besides, Indian Ocean is one of the largest fishing grounds in the
world. A large number of people depend on fishing activities in this area.
Because of frequent natural calamities, often coastal nations lose their fishing
boats and crews. In addition, being at the center part of the trade and commerce
between Asia and Middle East/ Europe, a number of aircraft crisscrosses over the
Indian Ocean. Therefore, air accidents in this sea area are not also uncommon.
Sad incident of MH-370 reiterates the need for extensive maritime SAR in this
respect. All these instances mentioned above, demand effective MSAR to
response in an emergency situation.

IAMSAR Manual gives out the obligation to take necessary actions in a MSAR
situation by the RCC (Regional Cooperation Centre) and/or ships at sea
answering the distress call. However, a multilateral collaborative IONS MSAR
may augment existing MRCCs and ensure a faster and effective SAR in the Indian
Ocean. The initiative is likely to benefit each of the members operating at sea.
Besides, the assurance of quick response in case of MSAR in the Indian Ocean
would encourage and enhance business activities for other countries.
On the other hand, Bangladesh is a maritime country where more than 90%
trades are routed through sea and often used by India, Nepal and Bhutan for
transshipment. More than 3000 seagoing ships (3017 ships in 2015-2016 to be
specific) visit Bangladesh port carrying 4 million tons of crude and refined oil
each year. These seagoing ships vis-a-vis the tankers engaged in transshipment
operations in support of these activities present a fairly high risk of oil pollution.
An oil spill incident in the Bay of Bengal will cause great damage to the sea
environment and marine lives.

Likely Hindrances to IONS Multilateral Collaborative MSAR
As it is seen that a multilateral collaborative MSAR in the Indian Ocean is
inevitable. However, there are likely to be several challenges as follows which
need to be addressed while implementing IONS collaboration:

a. Lack of an Appropriate Framework. There is no proven/time tested
framework existing for an effective MSAR amongst the IONS member
countries. Therefore, endeavour to

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