The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) today, conducted a simulation air crash rescue operation at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos to assess its readiness in responding to air crashes and other emergencies.
FAAN has also restated its total commitment to tackling emergency situations in all its airports across the country, saying that its collaboration within and outside the sector would go a long way in enhancing its readiness to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommended practices.
The simulation exercise, which was held at the airside of the Lagos airport, started at exactly 10:55am with the deployment of two fire tenders from the Aerodrome Rescue & Fire Fighting Service (ARFFS), a department in FAAN in responding to an emergency situation at the airport, reports Daily Independent.
The fire tenders were able to put out a raging inferno from a Boeing 737 aircraft, which according to the mock exercise, had skidded off the runway on landing on the 18L/36R of the Lagos airport to the compass wing area, suffering leakage of fuel.
No fewer than 45 souls, including five crew members were onboard the aircraft as at the time of the accident.
Apart from FAAN, other relevant agencies like the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Port Health Services, Red Cross, Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and others participated by responding in quick time to the emergency call.
Apart from the two fire tenders from FAAN, the Lagos Fire Service also deployed a fire tender, while four ambulances, two from FAAN, one each from NSCDC and Port Health were also deployed for the exercise.
Mr. Olatokunbo Arewa, Regional General Manager, South West, FAAN, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.
Arewa said that the simulation exercise was in complaint with the ICAO recommendations and standards, saying that the exercise is conducted every two years.
He said: “This is one of the requirements of ICAO as stated in the document of airport emergency plans that we have to show that we are ready to attend to an emergency whenever it occurs.
“Though, we don’t pray for any emergency, but we need to prepare and get ready whenever it occurs within the airport. The exercise is once every two years.
“Our response team got to the scene right on time to really discharge their duties to ensure that all souls onboard were rescued and save as much as possible the equipment on ground from being burnt.”
Arewa assured that some of the lapses noticed in the simulation exercise would be addressed going forward.
He further commended the Lagos State Government and other agencies for their collaboration with FAAN on the simulation exercise.
Also, Mrs. Dolapo Fakunle, Deputy General Manager, Station Commander, Aerodrome Rescue and Firefighting Services, MMA, lauded the response time of the firefighters.
According to her, the response time was achieved in less than two minutes, while the simulated fire was put out within three minutes.
“With the firefighting equipment we have on ground now, we are more than ready to combat any emergency. I am bold to say that. We have good and serviceable fire service vehicles on ground,” she assured.
On his part, Dr. Ofoegbu Okechukwu, Head of Department (HoD), Medical Team, MMA, said that prior to this time, the department had been having simulation exercises in preparation for emergency situations.
He emphasised that the medical team was able to separate the victims according to their critical medical conditions as required by the profession.
“There is something we call triage victims in an emergency like this where we use some labels to identify the critically injured victims, which is a red label. Then, green for those who don’t need an urgent dimension. Then, we also have the yellow that needs immediate intervention. Then, we have the black for the deceased.
“So, every member of the medical team is currently trained with the basic life support and also advanced cardiovascular life support programmes and they are also aware of this triage indications.
“What happened at the scene was the fact that there is an onsite command medical officer that takes instructions from the Emergency Operational Centre (EOC),” he said.
Okechukwu, pointed out that 25 medical officials from FAAN were deployed for the exercise while medical officials from Nigeria Air Force and Lagos Medical team were also involved.
