History
On November 9, 1974, the Yuyo Maru No.10 (第十雄洋丸?), a Japanese LPG tanker, collided with the Pacific Alice, a Liberian freighter, in Tokyo Bay. 3 hours after the collision, a major explosion and fire occurred on the tanker, which was a unique design carrying both naphtha and LPG. The naphtha fire lasted for a week before the Japan Self-Defense Forces sank the stricken vessel. The accident resulted in 33 deaths (28 on board Pacific Alice, 5 on board Yuyo Maru No.10) and 8 injuries.
The Special Rescue Team (SRT) was established in October 1975, with an initial strength of 5 members, in response to this accident. The team was initially trained by the Tokyo Fire Department's Special Rescue Team.
In April 1986, the SRT was shifted to its current location at the Haneda Special Rescue Station.
Read more about this topic: Special Rescue Team
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“These anyway might think it was important
That human history should not be shortened.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)