Lusaka mock plane crash causes panic
By Obert Simwanza
BUSINESS in most parts of Lusaka yesterday temporarily came to a virtual standstill after a commercial airliner had crashed at the Lusaka International Airport.
The route to the international airport, about 20 kilometres from the city centre, was clogged with traffic as curious onlookers watched in awe as emergency vehicles, including police cars and ambulances, hurtled to and fro with sirens blaring apparently transporting the injured and dead to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
It was, however, only after several hours that it dawned to the city dwellers that the whole dramatic episode was a mere routine simulated emergency evacuation exercise conducted by the National Airports Corporation (NAC) and the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to prepare different sectors of society in the event that a real plane crash occurred.
In a media brief soon after the exercise, director of civil aviation, Chitalu Kabalika said the exercise was appropriate and in line with airline industry that routine mock emergency evacuation exercises were carried out to assess the levels of preparedness at the country’s airports.
Mr Kabalika said in fact, such mock evacuation exercises should normally be carried out once in two years to ensure that the country kept in line with international aviation standards.
The plane crash was assumed to have occurred at the Airport/Great East Road roundabout and caused unsuspecting residents, who were visibly shocked and gripped with fear, believe they would find grotesque scenes of mutilated bodies strewn all over.
According to eyewitnesses, some human “bodies” were found hanging in trees and around nearby bushes with tattered and soiled clothing which looked like blood as emergency workers retrieved them, fastened them on stretchers and loaded them onto waiting ambulances to the UTH and the Airport clinic.
Ambulances from Zambia Police, Zambia Air Force (ZAF), MARS and STS were involved in the exercise.
Telephone lines at the Times of Zambia offices in Lusaka were jammed with calls from members of the public who tipped reporters about the crash as some emotional callers immediately piled blame on the Government for keeping old and obsolete equipment at the international airport.
A check by a Times of Zambia crew that rushed to the airport to investigate the supposed crash, found frantic scenes of medical personnel from the Air Rescue crew, the Zambia Army and police medical teams applying emergency treatment to the injured.
Journalists who were researching at the High Court premises reported that judiciary workers abandoned their offices to witness the relentless screams of blaring sirens speeding towards the hospital as news of the disaster spread like wild fire.
At the UTH, nurses and other medical operatives were on hand at the casualty department receiving the injured and dead as some stretchers were passed on straight to the brought-In-dead (BID) section.
Some residents who were later interviewed complained that they expected the DCA to notify them that the crash was actually a mock exercise rather than to cause panic and anxiety among many.
Some local radio stations were overwhelmed with callers who expressed mixed feelings about the exercise as announcers were at pains to confirm the tragedy to them.
Mr Kabalika, however, insisted the exercises would continue without notice to see the level of preparedness at the airport in an event of a crash, hijack or unexpected fire, among other eventualities.
He said the mock crash was meant to see whether Zambia was ready to meet the international aviation standards.
NAC airport manager, Friday Mulenga said the emergency exercise was meant to see how prepared Zambia was to tackle airline emergencies.
