Safety drill carried out in Macau Heliport to test capacity of handling emergencies: goal achieved

Following the full scale emergency exercise and the bomb threat exercise carried out in Macau International Airport, a full scale emergency exercise was also conducted in the Macau Heliport on 19 October evening to simulate a helicopter accident and the response of all relevant entities to cooperate with each other to handle this emergency and attend to the injured, in accordance with the respective contingency plans. The exercise was smooth and achieved the goal.

The safety exercise started at 23:30 with the participation of 80 people. It simulated the scenario of an accident with a helicopter carrying passengers. An engine failure occurred after the helicopter has taken off; the helicopter lost propulsive power and landed heavily back onto the pad. The accident resulted in the detachment of some parts from the aircraft and caused three injuries. The Flight Operation Control Centre immediately activated the emergency response procedures and notified all relevant entities. The Heliport Emergency Operation Centre was then activated. Representatives of the relevant entities and the rescue team arrived on site in a short time to handle the emergencies: rescuing the injured, evacuating the personnel, maintaining order in the terminal, attending to enquiries and so on. The whole exercise was concluded in an hour.

East Asia Airlines Ltd, the present operator of helicopter services between Macao and Hong Kong, was the coordinator of this exercise. The participants included the Customs Bureau, the Public Security Police Force, the Fire Brigade, the Harbour Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority.

A full scale emergency exercise was conducted in the Macau Heliport on 19 October evening to simulate a helicopter accident and the response of all relevant entities to test their capacity in control, coordination, communication, rescue and other actions in accordance with the relevant contingency plans.