News about a few coaches of a train falling into a waterbody in Ernakulam spread through the city on Saturday morning as a mock underwater rescue and relief drill was conducted near Kaniampuzha Bridge, Vyttila.
Forty two personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the accident-relief team of the Southern Railway, personnel of Fire and Rescue Service, the police and ambulance services took part in the drill. An old coach was partially immersed in the waterbody beneath the bridge by a heavy-duty crane. In it were a few dummies in the shape of human beings.
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The rescue drill that lasted for an hour commenced by 9.30 a.m. after NDRF personnel rushed to the spot following a siren went off at Ernakulam Junction railway station. Rescue personnel used equipment like oxygen mask, underwater lights and cutting equipment to enter the coach and take out the dummies in stretchers, based on standard operational procedure.
Those who were unaware of the drill and saw the partially-sunk coach, and others who were alerted through different communication modes spread the word of a train accident occurring in the city.
“The objective of the drill was also to test response time of different agencies to such an incident and also to assess the effectiveness of emergency equipment provided to them,” said a Railway official.
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Personnel of the 4{+t}{+h}Battalion of the NDRF based at Arakonam, led by Assistant Commandant Rajan Balu participated. Also present at the site were Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Bajpai and Southern Railway’s Ernakulam Area Manager Rajesh Chandran. Ambulances arranged by St. John Ambulance Service too were pressed into action. “The area near the bridge was chosen since there are three tracks there. This ensured to and fro train movement, even as a track was used for the mock drill,” Railway officials said.
A similar drill – this time a rescue effort following a staged ‘collision’ between trains, will be held at Shoranur on Monday.