PCAA conducts emergency exercise at Lahore airport

Drill arranged to extinguish large-scale fire

LAHORE: The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) conducted a full-scale simulated emergency exercise at Allama Iqbal International Airport on Wednesday.

PCAA’s fire and medical departments played a pivotal role in the exercise. In order to closely mimic a real-life emergency situation, the PCAA arranged a drill where a large-scale fire had to be extinguished at the airport.

During the exercise, the ‘injured’ were rescued from the aircraft by PCAA firefighters and Rescue 1122 and handed over to medics for necessary first-aid, while the ‘injured’ were transported to the nearest hospitals using ambulances that were stationed nearby. An army aviation helicopter was also utilised for this purpose.

Other departments such as Pakistan Air Force, Rescue 1122, the army, city government health services, Edhi Foundation and ambulances from several government hospitals also participated in the exercise.

Allama Iqbal International Airport Manager Tahir Sikandar stated that the aim of the exercise was to apply risk management and appropriate control measures associated with aircraft incidents and evaluate the effectiveness of emergency plans drawn up by PCAA in the event of a fire.

“We are able to effectively deal with emergencies due to the help and cooperation extended to us by other departments,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2018.