Shanghai’s ability to save lives at sea needs to improve, a senior official said yesterday.

“We still lag behind in our deepwater and high seas rescue ability,” Chen Xiaoguang, deputy director of the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, told a press conference.

Two vessels from Shanghai, the “Haixun 01” and “Donghaijiu 101,” last year took part in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with the former playing a key role in the collection and delivery of survey data.