Mobile Control Post (MCP) vehicle reaches Kolkata airport after Kozhikode plane mishap

The Mobile Command Post (MCP) vehicle, which was commissioned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on the 30th of April, reached the Kolkata airport on Wednesday, amidst the Coronavirus lockdown imposed by the state government. The move, a precautionary one, has been taken after the Kozhikode plane mishap last week. 

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The reason behind the vehicle coming to the city was solely precautionary after an Air India Express plane crash-landed at the Kozhikode airport on August 7, killing 18 people including two pilots. According to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the vehicle cost a whopping Rs 46,36,220 and it has got a compartment where facilities are mounted for use on the site, primarily for rescue operations or unlawful situations, as and when the need for the same would ever arrive. 

"The vehicle serves an amalgamation point where all the liaison officers, belonging to various cooperating agencies can assemble to plan and coordinate the rescue operations", said the AAI. 

"The vehicle can also be used to establish an emergency area for the uninjured survivors, and also secure or provide any kind of assistance required at the Triage area and arrange the speedy evacuation of injured casualty cases inside the hospital. The vehicle also helps in liaison with the concerned airline to transport the casualties who have not been injured to the Survivors Receptors Centre(SRC), establishing communication with the Crisis Management Centre(CMC) and Airport Operation Control Centre" further added the Airports authority. 

As per the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Airport Rescue and the Fire Fighting services are the ones who are responsible for the deployment of the vehicle as quickly as possible, at a distance which is not less than 90 meters upwind from the accident site of the aircraft.

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Post the Kozhikode plane crash on the 7th of August, where an Air India Express flight from Dubai to Kozhikode had overshot the tabletop runway before plunging 35 feet below the valley and split into two parts, the government has come up with extremely stringent measures at airports across the country to tackle any kind of untoward incidents in the future. 

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(With ANI Inputs)