According to the paper, an accident scenario was devised in which an aircraft went off the runway and a fire was triggered by a gasoline leak.Every two years, the airport must demonstrate that it is prepared to handle emergencies, according to Mr. Olatokunbo Arewa, Regional General Manager, South-West/Airport Manager, MMA.
The authorities will be able to identify areas that require improvement and access the shortcomings using today’s exercise.
Even if we don’t pray for emergencies, we should be ready for them whenever they happen at the airport.
We should perform this type of activity at least once every two years, and that is exactly what we did today. You’ve seen our readiness.
In order to fulfill their responsibility of ensuring the rescue of every person on board and preventing the bombing of the equipment on the ground, our response team arrived at the situation promptly, he said.
Arewa discussed the simulator’s scenario, which involved a Boeing 737 with 80 passengers and five crew members landing on Runway 18L, 39 right of the runway, skidding to the compass wing, and experiencing a fuel leak.
We observed that some of the agency heads were late for their appointments at the emergency operation center.
“We command and direct how the exercise will proceed to reply on time in that decision-making chamber.
While some arrived late, others did not reply at all. We will take care of that.
In particular, one of the organizations that was meant to visit the scene and document the events in order to look into what truly transpired failed to show up on time.Thus, we have taken notice of all of these. We will address this during our debriefing so that it doesn’t occur during a true emergency,” he stated.
According to Arewa, three fire tenders were on the scene and arrived within the allotted time, and the firefighters were all properly equipped to extinguish the fire, despite the fact that some officials did not arrive on time.
According to him, frontline responders from various agencies were there, including LASEMA, NEMA, Lagos State Fire Rescue Service, NSCDC, AVSEC, NCAA, and NSIB.
Regarding the treatment of the victims’ relatives, the airport manager stated that it was OK for them to attempt to force their way into the terminal.
He claimed that the airport security guards had successfully prevented them from entering, and that a similar experiment will soon be repeated at another airport in the South-West.
Additionally, Dr. Okechukwu Ofeogbu, Head of Department, Medical Team, MMA, stated that their responders triage patients to determine which cases are critical and which are not.”We use labels to identify seriously ill victims—a red label for those who require immediate attention—and green labels for those who do not. This process is known as victim triage in emergency situations.
Additionally, we have the black for those who are truly dead and the yellow for those who want urgent assistance.
“Therefore, all members of the medical team are currently trained in both advanced cardiovascular life support programs and basic life support.”
Ofeogbu said that a medical command officer and an on-site command officer would be present at the spot to receive instructions from the Emergency Operations Center.
Regarding the Resuscitation Center’s capability, he stated that it could be expanded and that the organization worked with other medical facilities to handle crises.
He further mentioned that during the simulation, 25 persons were sent to the accident scene.
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Additionally, the response from her troops was excellent, according to Mrs. Dolapo Fakunle, Deputy General Manager/Station Commander, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Aerodromes Rescue and Purification Services.
According to her, the fire department arrived at the scene in less than two minutes, and within three more minutes, the fire was confined and rescue efforts got underway.
“We are more than prepared with the fleet of firefighting vehicles we currently have on the ground. We have good and functional fire trucks on the ground, I’m not afraid to admit that,” she remarked.
NAN reports that Air Peace was a partner in the exercise.
At about 10.55 a.m., an emergency alarm was sent to the MMA Aerodrome Rescue and two fire tenders moved to the scene, with two ambulances but at about 11.03 a.m., more ambulances were called to the scene.
At 11.08 a.m. more hands were needed at the scene. At 11.10 a.m., the NSCDC ambulance joined the rescue team, at 11.17 a.m, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services arrived.
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