Mock emergency completed at Paphos airport

A major emergency exercise codenamed “Rough Terrain” was carried out at Paphos airport on Thursday, Hermes Airports said.

The exercise lasted for approximately two hours and involved various government and non-governmental departments and services based both within and outside the airport.

According to the exercise scenario, an incoming aircraft from London during its final approach for landing, crashes.

Part of the aircraft collapses whilst one of the two engines catches fire. The left wing of the aircraft detaches during the crash and goes on fire in the fields, 30 metres from the point where the aircraft has stopped.

At the same time there is a fuel leak with a risk of fire. The crew commences an immediate aircraft evacuation whilst the emergency services of the airport arrive at the scene launching the rescue operations.

For Paphos airport, the object of the exercise was to determine the readiness of all the relevant services and the level of coordination among them when faced with a major emergency and furthermore to train the staff of all the emergency responding agencies, Hermes said.

“Hermes wishes to express its satisfaction with the final result of the exercise. Valuable conclusions have been drawn and these will be evaluated and implemented appropriately, with the aim of improving the level of rapid response and the overall efficiency of the various services,” it said.

 

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