The Nation Newspaper

Tag: emergency

  • Kogi to re-organise emergency agency

    Kogi to re-organise emergency agency

    Kogi Deputy Governor Mr Yomi Awoniyi, says the state government will reorganise its Emergency Management Agency to increase its capacity to respond to emergencies and disasters.

    Awoniyi, in a press statement issued by his Press Secretary, Mr Michael Abu, in Lokoja, said this when he received a delegation of UNICEF officials from Kaduna State.

    The UNICEF officials were in the state to assess the current flood disaster which ravaged parts of the state.

    Awoniyi disclosed that the state government had concluded arrangements to begin the process of cooking for displaced victims within their camps, rather than the daily sharing of raw foodstuffs.

    “We discovered that people now impersonate to collect food stuffs,” he said.

    The deputy governor said the state had prepared ahead for the flood but its magnitude was beyond its capacity.

    He disclosed that the state would partner with both the Federal Government and UNICEF to expand and strengthen of the State Emergency Management Agency to be more proactive.

    Awoniyi thanked the Red Cross International which had been assisting the state to build new camps with the use of tents, across the state.

    Earlier while speaking, the leader of the UNICEF delegation, Mr. Raymon Akor, said he had visited several camps in the state.

    He promised that the organisation would give more assistance to the state towards the upkeep of the victims.

     

  • 248 escape death at MMIA as Qatar Air makes emergency landing

    248 escape death at MMIA as Qatar Air makes emergency landing

    Panic swept through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, yesterday following a distress call from an in- bound Qatar Airways plane intimating the control tower of difficulty in its tyres retracting for landing.

    On board the Airbus A330 were 248 passengers.

    The message from the pilot of flight QR592 from Doha to Lagos soon sparked a flurry of activities in the aviation sector which is desperate to rebuild its image in the aftermath of the June 3, 2012 crash of Dana plane in Lagos which claimed over 153 lives.

    The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) alerted the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which in turn mobilized the Army, Police, Civil Defence, Road Safety, the Medics, Federal Fire Service, State Fire service and Julius Berger fire Unit.

    Their response was swift.

    By 11.30am they had all assembled in strategic places at the airport and quickly broke into three groups and apportioned responsibilities accordingly.

    In group one were eight firemen and NEMA officials fully equipped with fire fighting gadgets. They were positioned where the plane was to touch down and their duty was to put out any fire that might break out.

    Next to them, in the second group, were medical and para-medical personnel who were to administer first aid treatment on those on board the plane after evacuation and before referral to appropriate hospitals, while in the third group were FRSC, Civil Defence and Police officers who were deployed on emergency routes that might be needed to get victims to the hospital.

    The main routes were airport to the nearby Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and airport to the Nigerian Air Force medical centre.

    But by the time the plane eventually landed at 12.57 there was no need to put the plan into use as the tyres retracted after several attempts by the pilot.

    The passengers were not even aware of what was going on until they disembarked.

    “The plane has landed safely,” said Harold Demuren, the Director general of the NCAA said, adding: “We lost one of the tyres.”

    The aircraft landed at the cargo terminal and was then towed to an area where passengers were able to disembark.

    He said that no passengers were injured during the emergency landing and that one of the plane’s tyres had to be replaced. A mechanic at the airport said one of the plane’s left tyres was flat.

    Three passengers who were on board said the crew had made no announcements about the mechanical problem during the flight.

    “They landed safely. There was no problem. I didn’t notice any other thing,” said Raphael Ashala, 30, a Nigerian who was on his way back from a Doha business trip.

    One of the tyres was said to have burst shortly after take- off from Doha.