BENGALURU: At 10.06 am on Thursday, a siren was sounded and a message was sent to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) stating, “A train is derailed and two coaches capsized with a few passengers trapped inside the coaches at KSR Bengaluru City Station.”Immediately the NDRF team rushed to the spot and arrived at 10.18 am and started rescue operations with the latest equipment.
This was part of a full-scale mock drill in the Coaching depot area of the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway station to assess the disaster preparedness of various railway departments and the NDRF.A total of 40 personnel from NDRF 10th Batallion from Guntur and 60 railway staffers from Control room, Medical, Carriage, Signal and Electrical departments were involved in the exercise which took place from 10 am to 11.15 am.
“Windows were slashed and cut open and the top of the coach was pushed open to remove the injured passengers out. A total of 14 passengers were removed from the capsized coach by the NDRF and Railway Break down team,” an official release said. First aid was rendered to them by the medical team of both the Railways and NDRF. It was a display of co-ordination and equipment used for rescue of passengers at the quickest time, the release said.
Subheesh K S Assistant Commandant, NDRF, Ashok Kumar Verma, DRM, Bengaluru Railway Division and M A V Ramanjan, Principal Chief Safety Officer, SWR, were among top officers who took part.
Verma told TNIE that this was an annual exercise carried out by NDRF by staging different emergency scenarios. “The exercise will enable to correct shortfalls in rescue operations during accidents,” he added.
It was carried out in an isolated area and not in the midst of passengers, he said.