Mock exercise in progress at Paro airport
Taxi-driver Namgay Dorji, en route to Paro town, was horror-struck when he saw smoke billowing from the Paro International Airport and firefighters rushing amidst emergency lights flashing and sirens reverberating across the valley.
“I thought Druk Air was on fire,” said the panting taxi driver. “No one would have thought this was an exercise.” Indeed, this was the first annual full-scale aerodrome emergency evacuation exercise carried out by the Civil Aviation department and Druk Air. They were testing the aerodrome emergency plan, drafted two years ago and reviewed by consultants several times.

“This exercise is basically to prepare every agency at the airport and Paro dzongkhag in case of an emergency at the airport,” said project manager, Sangay Wangdi.

The exercise was made mandatory after Bhutan became a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2005. The ICAO audited all the safety-related areas of Druk Air in October 2006 and the report stated that Bhutan had neither carried out any such emergency evacuation exercise nor had any standard protocol to do so in terms of emergency. “This is an annual mandatory exercise according to ICAO,” stated the report.

The project manager said that there was no detailed manual in the past to follow in terms of any mishap. “The new plan contains detailed procedures to be followed during such an incident at the airport.”

Experts from Sweden, who were monitoring the exercise, pointed out the need for better coordination amongst concerned agencies involved in case of an emergency.

The exercise was carried out with assistance from the capacity development project (CDP) financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Paro hospital, Royal Bhutan Army (Shaba), and the dzongkhag were among the 11 agencies involved in the exercise.

Source: Kuenselonline