Coast Guard Conducts 12th SAREX-2026 off Paradip Coast

The correct answer is Paradip, Odisha. The Indian Coast Guard conducted the 12th edition of the National Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise in the sea off Paradip on 8 October 2026, and the Paradip Port Authority along with the Odisha state administration took part in it. Option A, Kochi, is wrong: Kerala was not the setting for this edition, even though the Coast Guard keeps assets on the western seaboard. Option C, Visakhapatnam, is wrong: although it is a major port on the eastern coast, the drill named here was held off the Odisha coast and not off Andhra Pradesh. Option D, Mormugao in Goa, is wrong for the same reason, since the exercise was an eastern seaboard event. The rescue scenario itself placed the imagined aircraft crash close to Paradip Port, which fixes the location firmly.

The correct answer is Leveraging Technology to Strengthen SAR Preparedness and Maritime Safety. That was the theme chosen for the 12th National Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise off Paradip, and it was borne out on the day by the demonstration of a Remotely Operated Vehicle and by the stress placed on a faster, technology-enabled and seamlessly coordinated rescue framework. Options A, C and D are plausible-sounding maritime slogans but none of them was the theme of this exercise. The exercise was held under the National Maritime Search and Rescue Board, was reviewed by Coast Guard Director General Paramesh Sivamani, and brought together maritime and aeronautical agencies to show operational readiness, interoperability and a coordinated answer to mass rescue operations at sea. Aspirants should link the edition, the theme and the venue together, since examiners usually test the three as a set.

The correct answer is 32 observers from 30 countries. Their presence at the exercise off Paradip was treated as a notable step towards stronger cooperation between nations on rescue at sea, because it allowed an exchange of working practices, improved the ability of different forces to operate together, and underlined that India is relied upon as a search and rescue partner in its region. Options A, C and D give figures that were not reported for this edition. Candidates should also remember what was deployed alongside the observers: fifteen Coast Guard ships, three Dornier aircraft, three Advanced Light Helicopters, one Chetak helicopter, an Air Force C-130J and a Mi-17, two Navy ships, and a range of civil, state and shore-based units. The drill rehearsed a mass rescue after a passenger aircraft carrying 228 persons was taken to have ditched at sea.