Opsa Water Rescue Volunteers Ensure Coastline Safety During Weekends

The Opsa (Versatile Water Rescue Operators) volunteers from the local Croce Rossa group ensure rapid intervention along the Municipality’s coastline and surrounding waters during weekends.

Their equipment includes a catamaran inflatable boat with an open bow, a 100-horsepower outboard motor, and yellow bicycles. Because alongside water patrolling, there are two responders on two wheels equipped with first aid bags and in radio contact with the crew, composed of three people, on the vessel.

They go out on the water and on bicycles simultaneously shortly before 10 a.m., then finish their shifts at sunset after six hours of surveillance. The service was initiated thanks in part to the sensitivity of the Comune, which has entered into an agreement with the Cri, which has a headquarters in Cisano.

All of this is in anticipation of moving to the new facility at Ca’ Nova. Recently, during the last weekends, the patrol service did not experience any particular increase in workload and proceeded smoothly.

Interventions and Emergency Situations

One of the more lively mornings was a Sunday early in the season, with a water rescue at 11:30 a.m. An emergency call came from a motorboat that had broken down, which was towed into port in Cisano by the volunteers.

In the afternoon, an alarm was raised after the discovery of a free tender boat approximately two hundred meters from the shore, with no one aboard. The Carabinieri were alerted, and search operations were conducted, ultimately resulting in a negative outcome.

The inflatable boat, which had come loose from some buoys, was stored at the Cri headquarters awaiting its owners. Meanwhile, the volunteers responded to two elderly German spouses on a small sailing boat.

They signaled for help, raising their arms. The vessel was partially submerged, and the engine was broken. The volunteers quickly assisted and brought both individuals ashore aboard the rescue boat.

Was the day over? Not at all. Prompted by radio calls from colleagues on bicycles, they arrived at the Continental camping site with the inflatable boat.

They needed to rescue a reckless tourist who had sustained a head wound after diving from the pier and was unable to return to shore. The volunteers applied first aid to control the heavy bleeding while awaiting the arrival of the Verona Emergency Medical Services ambulance for hospital transfer.

Once again, everything was resolved with a fright and a certain reassurance: the vigilant presence of the Opsa volunteers.