The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) on Saturday launched the Live 118 system, which will allow its staff to receive videos of maritime incidents and accidents taken by callers and send them footage of life-saving techniques and other emergency response measures.

Under the system, after receiving an emergency report, the JCG can send a URL of a dedicated website to the caller's smartphone via text messaging, enabling the caller to access the site to get necessary information.

The JCG created nine types of videos that would be sent to callers, including those showing ways to treat burns, stop bleeding and remove foreign objects from a person's airway.

"We hope the new system will help raise the life-saving rate," a JCG official said.

The JCG conducted an exercise at its headquarters in Tokyo ahead of the launch of the Live 118 system, based on a scenario in which someone on a leisure craft suddenly falls ill.

A coast guard member received a video of the patient from a person who called the coast guard at 118 using a smartphone and sent footage showing CPR measures to the caller. The member told the caller, "You are applying pressure correctly."

The JCG introduced an emergency reporting system in May 2000, allowing members of the public to call the coast guard at 118 to report maritime accidents and provide information on illegal immigration, smuggling and suspicious ships.

However, the annual number of valid emergency calls to the phone number has remained flat at around 5,000, while invalid calls account for 99% of the total every year. In 2024, valid calls totaled 4,792, against some 395,000 invalid calls.

One of the reasons for this is believed to be callers confusing 118 with other numbers.

"We need to work on raising public awareness" about the emergency reporting system, a JCG official said.

The JCG is taking various measures to let people know the emergency phone number, including designating Jan. 18 every year as "118 Day."