In the height of summer, a military-civilian joint rescue exercise organized and led by a unit of the Eastern Theater Command Air Force got fully underway. The exercise simulated a major traffic accident on a highway in a given locality. Garrison forces responded rapidly, conducting a military-civilian joint emergency rescue operation together with local departments including traffic police, fire services, and hospitals, linking the action chain of "response—rescue—evacuation."
After the emergency occurred, roads were severely blocked, ground rescue vehicles could not reach the scene directly, several civilians were trapped inside vehicles, and some critically injured patients were in life-threatening condition. "Requesting air support" — at this critical moment, the military-civilian joint response was immediately activated. Military and civilian sides established a command link through the combat readiness duty system, rapidly exchanged situational information, clarified the division of rescue responsibilities, and launched response operations. An emergency is a combat situation. A unit of the Air Force immediately organized two search-and-rescue helicopters to move into position; a people's armed forces department (人武部) swiftly mobilized militia rescue forces, who boarded the aircraft with professional medical equipment; and the aerial rescue force flew directly to the accident scene. Simultaneously, a garrison hospital organized personnel to clear and secure the hospital's landing site and made ready to receive casualties.
At the rescue scene, emergency and fire personnel cut open the accident vehicles and successively rescued the trapped civilians, while highway traffic police simultaneously carried out traffic control and road clearance to open up the rescue area. When the helicopters arrived over the scene, the search-and-rescue aircraft commander used the advantage of flexible, low-altitude maneuverability to rapidly assess the on-scene situation. After coordinating with personnel on the ground, he decided to conduct the rescue using a combination of "helicopter landing rescue and hover-and-hoist rescue." In a relatively open roadbed area, one helicopter landed precisely; the militia rescue force rapidly disembarked, quickly assessed injuries, applied hemostasis and immobilization, and administered initial treatment to the wounded. At another location, because the position where a critically injured casualty was trapped was too narrow to permit a landing, the search-and-rescue aircraft commander flexibly established an approach route, maintained a stable hover above the casualty, opened the cabin door, and the aerial rescue swimmer descended with a rescue litter and landed steadily, immediately securing the casualty. Hoist! At the aerial rescue swimmer's signal, the winch operator operated the winch to retract the cable, and the casualty was brought safely into the cabin.
Treatment of the casualties brooked no delay. The two-aircraft formation flew to the local hospital. The helicopters opened a landing approach route between the buildings, landed safely at a temporary landing site, and successfully completed the evacuation of the casualties. Medical personnel rapidly moved forward, seamlessly taking over the handoff of casualties, conducting re-assessment of injuries, and administering emergency treatment before immediately transferring them to the emergency department for care — efficiently opening the "aerial emergency corridor (空中急救走廊)."
In this exercise, all military and civilian parties worked in full coordination, effectively clearing the command link and response procedures. Going forward, military-civilian integration (军地融合) will continue to be deepened, laying a solid foundation for safeguarding the lives and property of the people and consolidating the local emergency safety barrier.