Risks covered - Rule 33(Gard Rules) : Life salvage

Rule 33 Life salvage

The Association shall cover sums legally due to third
parties by reason of the fact that they have saved or
attempted to save the life of any person on or from the
Ship, but only if, and to the extent that, such payments
are not recoverable under the Hull Policies or from cargo
owners or underwriters.

Guidance
(A) Life salvage (Rule 33)
The laws of most countries provide that if a person
voluntarily saves property from danger at sea, he is legally
entitled to claim a financial reward from the owners of
that property which is commensurate to his success, i.e.
salvage. Salvage remuneration is not usually payable for
the saving of life at sea in circumstances where no
property is salved, but if life is saved together with
property this will usually serve to increase the
remuneration that is payable by the owners of the
properties salved. However, even when life is saved
together with property the persons rescued would rarely –
if ever – be held personally liable to make payment to their
rescuer,1 who must therefore, enforce his right to
remuneration against the owners and underwriters of any
property that has been salved, e.g. the Ship and cargo.
Nevertheless, different statutory rights of compensation
may exist in some countries. 
(B) The Association shall cover…but only to the extent
that such payments are not recoverable under the Hull
Policies or from cargo owners or their insurers. (Rule 32)
Cover is available for the Member’s liabilities to third
parties who have saved or attempted to save the life of
any person on or from the Ship, provided that payments
made in this regard are not recoverable from either the
hull underwriters or from the cargo owners or their
insurers. Some countries, such as England, draw a
distinction between, on the one hand, life salvage at
common law in which case the whole of the salvage
award is payable by the hull insurers or the insurers of
cargo or any other property saved even though the value
of the award made against such property has been
increased by the saving of life, and, on the other hand,
statutory life salvage in which case the statutory life
salvage element is recoverable from P&I insurers. 

So long as the Member is legally liable to pay the third

party, cover is available regardless of the identity or
function of the person who has been saved, e.g. they may
be Crew members and their relatives, passengers, pilots
and even stowaways, and regardless of whether the
person saved was on board at the time of rescue.
Therefore, cover is available in the case of persons who
have abandoned the Ship and are rescued from lifeboats
or rafts and even if persons are rescued a considerable
period of time after the incident which necessitates the
rescue. 

Cover is not available if the payments which are legally

due from the Member to third parties are recoverable
under the Hull Policies or from cargo owners or their
underwriters. However, even if payments are not in fact
recovered from such other interests they are deemed to
be recoverable for the purposes of Rule 33 if they are
recoverable in principle but cannot be recovered in fact
due to the inability of the Member to enforce payment, e.g.
due to the bankruptcy of such interests. Similarly,
payments are deemed to be recoverable under the Hull
Policies for the purposes of Rule 33 if they would have
been recoverable if the Ship had been fully insured on
standard terms.

 See Article 16.1 of the International Convention on

Salvage 1989.
QUOTE:

Article 16 - Salvage of persons

1. No remuneration is due from persons whose lives are
saved, but nothing in this
article shall affect the provisions of national law on this
subject.
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2. A salvor of human life, who has taken part in the
services rendered on the
occasion of the accident giving rise to salvage, is entitled
to a fair share of the
payment awarded to the salvor for salving the vessel or
other property or
preventing or minimizing damage to the environment.