ENUGU – Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has assured air travelers of their safety during emergency situations.
Balami Umoru Ismaila, Airspace Manager (GM) NAMA, Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu stated this on Thursday while speaking during the mock plane rescue conducted at the airport with other stakeholders in the aviation emergency rescue operations.
He said the aim of the mock exercise with the theme “SAREX 2024 was to test the response of airport workers and those around airport communities during emergency around airport space
According to him “We always communicate with neibouring communities especially the community leaders to educate them so that they can contact us immediately they see any airline emergency around them for fast response,”he said
Ismaila added that the exercise was conducted to ascertain the readiness of NAMA and other agencies involved in search and rescue during emergency.
He assured the safety of air travelers during emergency adding
that all facilities and equipments are always on ground to avert causalities.
Also speaking, Lanre Iwalaye, Search and Rescue Mission Cordinator of NAMA, Akanu Ibiam International Airpot, Enugu said the objective of the exercise was to see the responsiveness of different stakeholders and the aircraft emergency department.
He said “We want to see how timely they can respond in terms of emergency and whether we have enough personnel.
“At the crash which occured along the runway of the airport, we were able to rescue 7 passengers and lost 3 in the crash.
“And we cannot even state the cause of the accident for now because we have the accident bureau on ground and Nigeria civil authority on ground and they can not give such report immediately so they are at the site trying to do their own investigation
“The only challenges we had during the rescue mission was timeliness of the response but the personnel and facilities deployed are on the average,” he said
He thereby advised that all staff of the airport should be trained to know the map of the airport so that when there is an incident, they can respond immediately and save the situation.
He added “the airport rescue operatives must be trained to know the map of the airport so that when there is emergency instead of running south, they will not be running north”
Also speaking, Joseph John Obovi, NAMA Station Mission Cordinator of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, said Enugu is a sub Centre for search and rescue and “it comprises of Owerri, Anambra, Asaba and Ebonyi.
“Incase of any emergency, Enugu has to activate the emergency Centre and deploy personal and facilities for search and rescue,” he said.
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