A full scale emergency exercise drill was conducted at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on June 23rd as per the regulations of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The main goal of the drill was to enhance the mutual cooperation among the different airport emergency workers and to boost up the robustness in handling emergency situations.
The emergency exercise drill was conducted in the TIA aerodrome imagining the real emergency situation. The airport was shut down for half an hour starting from 16:30 to 17:00 local time as every security personnel, emergency workers and airport authorities participated on the drill.
To produce an emergency situation, a dummy aircraft pretended to be Airbus A330 was fired up. Then there was the rush of ambulances, fire brigades, fire fighters, medical teams, and army and police personnel who were immediately dispatched to the proposed crash site. Every one delivered their own rescue services. Fire fighters extinguished the hazardous fire, ambulances conveyed the victims to hospital, medical team provided immediate treatment and the vitally injured victims were airlifted to nearest hospital via helicopter. Security personnel on the other hand were seen cooperating with the emergency workers.
According to the ICAO, this type of airport emergency exercise drill is the process of preparing an airport to cope with an emergency situation occurring at the airport or in its vicinity. The main objective of the exercise is to curtail the effects of an emergency especially in respect of saving lives.
ICAO Annex 14-9.1.13 states that a full-scale aerodrome emergency exercise must be conducted at intervals not exceeding two years and partial emergency exercises in the intervening year to ensure any lacking found during the full scale exercise.
