A new high-tech rescue ship equipped to put out fires at sea arrived in Shanghai over the weekend and will serve to strengthen Shanghai's abilities to deal with emergencies near the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Donghai Rescue Bureau said yesterday.

The rescue vessel was designed by a local shipping institute and was produced by a shipping company in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

Officials with the Shanghai-based Donghai Rescue Bureau said the ship, Donghai Rescue 111, is the largest rescue vessel with the most functions to perform rescue tasks in the country.

The ship can hold 100 rescue workers and has equipment to reduce the influence of powerful tides and maintain balance.

Fire hydrants on board the vessel can shoot water as far as 120 meters away on sea, officials said.

To facilitate whole-scale rescue tasks, it also has a landing pad for rescue helicopters on its deck.

It can sail up to 12,000 sea miles on a single trip and the maximum speed is 20.13 nautical miles an hour.

(Shanghai Daily January 5, 2006)