GVK-AAI-run Mumbai international airport on Sunday conducted a mock exercise to deal with an emergency situation in the eventuality of a fatal aircraft accident when it is on the approach path.
The three-hour long mock exercise was carried out by simulating a situation where a domestic passenger aircraft descended and crashed at the SNDT University ground due to an engine failure, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said in a release.
The mock exercise, claimed to be carried for the first time outside an airport, also involved all stakeholders, including National Disaster Response Force, Mumbai Fire Brigade, police, hospitals and ambulance services, among others.
It was jointly organised by MIAL in coordination with MCGM, budget carrier GoAir as affected Airlines and SNDT women's University.
As per the release, the mock exercise began with a domestic aircraft carrying 150 passengers and crew rapidly descended and hit the ground thereby resulting into a massive fire outbreak before reaching the airport.
The drill also gave impression that the passenger-cum-freighter aircraft was also carrying cargo which included some dangerous goods that further aggravated the fire.
The exercise was participated by key emergency responders amounting to around 500 participants.
Supporting the MCGM and other officials, various agencies of the airport and airlines were deployed as observers to critically evaluate the response by various agencies to combat such emergencies in real time, MIAL said.
This is the first time an airport of this stature has conducted an emergency response exercise outside the premises of the airport and along with all its other stakeholders.
The objective of conducting this real-time simulated mock exercise is to check the efficiency of procedures and the responding personnel to minimize the effects of a real emergency while saving lives, property, environment without impacting the regular functioning of the day-to-day lives of Mumbaikars, MIAL added.
To make the mock exercise realistic, a dummy aircraft was created and partially set on fire to execute the magnitude of the situation, the release said adding similarly, the local police were actively involved for panchnama of deceased passengers allowing for movement of the deceased to the nearby Cooper Hospital for postmortem procedure.
Furthermore, arrangements were made for all rescued passengers to reunite with their family and friends after this traumatic incident, MIAL said in the release.
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