Two railway coaches carrying tourists ‘’derailed and capsized’’ near Ashokapuram railway station triggering relief and rescue operations to save lives, here on Friday.
However, it was a simulated scenario and the authorities were honing their skills and demonstrating their readiness to handle any emergency.
The mock drill was conducted by the Mysuru Division of South Western Railway in association with the National Disaster Response Force and agencies of the State Government, for testing the efficacy of the Disaster Management Plan.
The simulated exercise began at 10 a.m. The NDRF team led by J. Senthil Kumar, Assistant Commandant, comprised 23 personnel while the team from the district fire services was led by Raju and they reached the site within 20 minutes of receiving information.
A battery of doctors and nursing staff from Railway Hospital along with ambulances were at the spot to provide first aid and assist in ‘’rescuing’’ nearly 25 passengers ‘’trapped’’ in the two coaches. The rescue operation lasted for about 110 minutes and was completed by 11.50 a.m.
Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Mysuru said a similar drill was carried out in September 2021 and complying with correct methods while conducting mock exercises would go a long way in improving the preparedness to deal with as well as in preventing disasters.
Minimizing the impact, be it loss of precious human lives or damage to infrastructure, are of paramount importance and hence preventive measures are assigned the highest priority during such drills, as mandated by the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), Mr.Agarwal added.
He said a comprehensive Disaster Management Plan is in place to deal with disasters effectively and a robust mechanism for establishing coordination with the various civil authorities is the focal point of it.
Manjunath Kanamadi, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, said apart from the rescue teams personnel from the medical department with ambulances in attendance, Railway Protection Force, representatives of the civil administration, Government Railway Police and civil police took part in the exercise.
