Disaster dry run
28 June 2006



Emergency services swung into action yesterday in an exercise to see how well they may handle a real air disaster.

It centred around a mock incident in which a plane carrying 50 passengers crash-landed on the runway at Bahrain International Airport, at 8.01am.

Emergency crew boarded a real, parked airliner to simulate rescues, and debris on land nearby waste set ablaze to put fire-fighters to the test.

The mock disaster scenario was that an Airbus A-320 had been forced into a "belly-landing" without wheels, after the undercarriage failed to engage, due to a technical problem.

The force of the impact, at speeds of around 300kmph, caused the aircraft to skid and spin out of control, before it came to a rest and burst into flames.

Two airport Fire Hunter vehicles, equipped with aerial hoses, rushed to tackle the blaze as thick clouds of black smoke plumed into the air.

The fire was quickly extinguished and a few minutes later, eight fire engines from the General Directorate of Civil Defence arrived on the scene, including a major incident command and control unit and hazardous chemicals vehicle.

They roared towards the aircraft with sirens blazing and formed a circle around the plane, as firemen got out to board the aircraft and rescue survivors.

Officials quickly established 12 people had "died" in the crash, while 28 were "injured", 18 of them "seriously".

More fire crews then boarded the plane with stretchers to rescue the more "seriously injured", as the police arrived and set up a cordon around the incident.

An emergency command post was set up where senior officials directed the operation, along with a temporary station to take casualties and also a mortuary.

The exercise was organised by Civil Aviation Affairs to test the readiness and efficiency of emergency team's response to a catastrophe.

Around 300 people were involved in the exercise, run in co-ordination with the Health, Interior, Defence and Information Ministries, plus several other organisations, including the BDF, National Guard, Bahrain Airport Services, Gulf Air, Bahrain Duty Free and DHL.

Nine minutes into the incident, an Interior Ministry helicopter touched down on the runway, transporting senior officials to the scene.

BDF and National Guard forces then arrived to assist in the evacuation as medical crews treated passengers suffering from head, neck and arm injuries.

Doctors from Salmaniya Medical Complex assessed the condition of patients and decided which hospital to take them to.

Thirty-four minutes into the incident, ambulance crews loaded two seriously injured passengers into the helicopter, so they could be airlifted to hospital.

Civil Aviation Affairs Under-Secretary Captain Abdulrahman Al Gaoud, who observed the exercise, later told the GDN it had been a success.

"It was to test the readiness of all government agencies in the unlikely event that something like this arises," he said.

"We are here to learn from this important exercise to deal with issues that can save lives. We will have a debrief that will tell us what were our shortfalls and then we will take it up with the ministries."

Captain Al Gaoud said the exercise, which was carried out in line with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation organisation, was crucial to keep emergency services prepared.

"I am very confident that Bahrain would deal with it professionally," he said.

Bahrain International Airport chief airport officer Ahmed Hussain said the emergency exercise was important "to improve our capability to handle real incidents


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