Minister defends time spent rescuing foreigners

In the past three years, Atlantic Airways’ helicopters have spent 46 hours rescuing injured foreigners.

Høgni Hoydal, the Minister of Fisheries, yesterday replied to MP Kári P. Højgaard, who asked how often Faroese helicopters have rescued foreign nationals in the past three years.

From 2015 until now, 15 SAR (Search and Rescue) and 13 MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation of casualties from e.g. a ship to a hospital) operations have taken place, which is less than the helicopter service’s annual allocation of 50 hours for rescue operations involving foreign nationals.

The minister added that the helicopter service does not claim any compensation for such operations.

Translated by prosa.fo