It was yesterday, on the 30th of May, at the Navy's premises in Lisbon, that the ceremony for the delivery of 28 Volkswagen Amarok the Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos (ISN), chaired by the Secretary of State for National Defense, Ana Santos Pinto.
Counting on this year, it is already the 9th consecutive year that the patrolling of Portuguese beaches will be in charge of the German brand's pick-ups.
The 28 units are equipped with the new engine 3.0 V6 TDI 258 hp , drive at four and were adapted for search, rescue and patrol missions on national beaches.
The transformation of the Amaroks for their new mission was carried out by Volkswagen Veículos Comercial in Portugal, and among the changes made, we can find supports for emergency equipment, rescue boards and stretchers, as well as emergency lights. For the first time they will also have automatic external defibrillators.
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The Volkswagen Amaroks will be at the service of the ISN, but their users will be Navy personnel, duly trained for the functions of lifeguard, off-road driving and even oxygen therapy.
The maintenance and assistance of the pick-ups will be the responsibility of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles dealer network.
SeaWatch
It was in 2011 that the SeaWatch project was created, the result of a partnership between the Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Volkswagen Financial Services and Volkswagen Dealers. This year, BP Portugal, which celebrates 90 years of presence in our country in 2019, also decided to join the SeaWatch project. Project that also has the support of Ageas Seguros.2018 in numbers
The results of the SeaWatch project can be seen in the numbers collected in 2018:
- 51 rescues to vacationers
- 271 first aid assistance
- 20 successful searches for lost children
Since the beginning of the SeaWatch project, it is estimated that the multiple Volkswagen Amarok used have covered around 280 thousand kilometers per bathing season, mainly on unsupervised beaches, having contributed to over 1600 saves of human lives.