A contingent of 78 naval frogmen will surveil open water areas for Beijing Olympics 2008.

The divers from a search and rescue troop of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy are believed to take the responsibility of clearing underwater security threatsfor Olympic water sports venues, the PLA Daily reported Wednesday.

The divers of the Navy’s East Sea Fleet have conducted more than 1,400 missions, including rescuing data-storage section of carrier rockets, removing suspicious objects in water areas surrounding the meeting place of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summits, and salvaging wrecked vessels after disastrous typhoons, the newspaper reported.

Dong Yan, captain of the group, said before the SCO summit last summer 24 of his divers combed 97,000 square meters of the Huangpu River bed in seven days of duty.

In a joint military exercise in April, the frogmen were successful in rescuing a damaged submarine from 86 meters below the sea surface, the newspaper reported.

In March 2006, a new type of torpedo, test fired by a submarine, suddenly disappeared from the sonar screen. After nine days of difficult search, the divers recovered the unexploded torpedo, whose test statistics were vital to improvement of its performance.

Dong’s group is now equipped with deep-water rescue vessels, advanced positioning boats and unmanned deep-water devices, the newspaper said.

All the divers are required to complete daily at least 10-km run, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and hiking with 80-kg burdens. They regularly spend week-long intensive exercises in pressure cabins, the newspaper reported.