Emergency exercise held at Ctg airport

The Civil Aviaion Authorities, Bangladesh (CAAB) arranged an emergency exercise for officials concerned at Shah Amanat International Airport yesterday to enhance their skills to deal with emergency situation like bomb threat, fire and air crash.
Representatives from CAAB, Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, Chittagong Port Authorities, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Air Force and Rapid Action Battalion, Biman Bangladesh Airlines and other airlines, Bangladesh Health Service, Bangladesh Ansar and VDP and some private hospitals took part in the exercise. CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Sanaul Haque was also present during the exercise.
As part of the mock emergency exercise, a dummy airplane was set on fire at Shah Amanat International Airport.
An aircraft with 65 passengers crashed while landing at the airport, igniting a massive fireball and engulfing the whole scene with black smoke. Emergency teams extinguished the fire in 33 minutes, but by then 10 lives were lost and 11 others were critically injured. This mock emergency exercise was organised to test the airfield’s ability to respond to a disastrous scenario through quick coordination among over 15 agencies.
The staged scenario was played out using dummies to simulate the passengers and the time to douse the fire on the mock airplane, owned by an imaginary airline named XYZ, and bring the “passengers” out as fast as possible was recorded. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) made it mandatory to hold such controlled exercises in every international airport every two years. The objective of organising the exercise was to ensure immediate rescue operation so that the number of casualty could be minimised.  Besides, efficiency of the firefighters, awareness and professional expertise were the objectives of the exercise.
After the exercise, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said although the exercise took 33 minutes, the emergency management teams, fire trucks and ambulances may take some more time to deal with an actual incident.
“However, through this exercise 20 to 22 agencies working at the airport will be able to control such disasters in a more coordinated way,” Menon added.
Referring to the training aircraft crash at Shah Makhdum Airport in Rajshahi where a female trainee pilot died, the minister said that allegation was raised regarding the negligence of fire fighting and rescue operation.
“The allegation has no base and it was levelled purely out of emotion. However, we should not rest assured. Manpower should be increased and training should be imparted in this regard. More such exercises are going to be held at Shahjalal International Airport and Sylhet Osmani International Airport,” said Menon.   

Emergency exercise held at Ctg airport

The Civil Aviaion Authorities, Bangladesh (CAAB) arranged an emergency exercise for officials concerned at Shah Amanat International Airport yesterday to enhance their skills to deal with emergency situation like bomb threat, fire and air crash. Representatives from CAAB, Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, Chittagong Port Authorities, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Air Force and Rapid Action Battalion, Biman Bangladesh Airlines and other airlines, Bangladesh Health Service, Bangladesh Ansar and VDP and some private hospitals took part in the exercise. CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Sanaul Haque was also present during the exercise. As part of the mock emergency exercise, a dummy airplane was set on fire at Shah Amanat International Airport. An aircraft with 65 passengers crashed while landing at the airport, igniting a massive fireball and engulfing the whole scene with black smoke. Emergency teams extinguished the fire in 33 minutes, but by then 10 lives were lost and 11 others were critically injured. This mock emergency exercise was organised to test the airfields ability to respond to a disastrous scenario through quick coordination among over 15 agencies. The staged scenario was played out using dummies to simulate the passengers and the time to douse the fire on the mock airplane, owned by an imaginary airline named XYZ, and bring the passengers out as fast as possible was recorded. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) made it mandatory to hold such controlled exercises in every international airport every two years. The objective of organising the exercise was to ensure immediate rescue operation so that the number of casualty could be minimised. Besides, efficiency of the firefighters, awareness and professional expertise were the objectives of the exercise. After the exercise, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said although the exercise took 33 minutes, the emergency management teams, fire trucks and ambulances may take some more time to deal with an actual incident. However, through this exercise 20 to 22 agencies working at the airport will be able to control such disasters in a more coordinated way, Menon added. Referring to the training aircraft crash at Shah Makhdum Airport in Rajshahi where a female trainee pilot died, the minister said that allegation was raised regarding the negligence of fire fighting and rescue operation. The allegation has no base and it was levelled purely out of emotion. However, we should not rest assured. Manpower should be increased and training should be imparted in this regard. More such exercises are going to be held at Shahjalal International Airport and Sylhet Osmani International Airport, said Menon.