Anti-hijack mock drill held at Vizag airport

Visakhapatnam: An anti-hijack mock exercise along with a mass casualty evacuation drill was conducted at Visakhapatnam Airport by INS Dega on Tuesday.

The exercise was aimed at testing the efficacy of contingency plans and procedures to deal with a hijack threat and validate the mass evacuation capability of all stakeholders including Marine Commandos (MARCOS), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the state government agencies.

It was conducted based on a mock hijack scenario enacted utilising an Indian Naval Dornier. The Aerodrome Committee under the aegis of Commanding Officer, INS Dega handled the developing scenario as per Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Response mechanism of Dega ATC, Quick Reaction Team (QRT), Marine Commandos (MARCOS), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Airport Authority of India (AAI) and State Government agencies were exercised. On completion of AHME mass evacuation capability to designated hospitals were exercised and validated.

An exhaustive debrief was conducted in the presence of members of Aerodrome Committee and observers from National Security Guard (NSG) and Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) were revalidated to deal with future contingencies.