An Aviation Security Consultant, Ona Ekhomu has lamented that poor disaster response was responsible for the huge death toll in the Dana Air flight 992 Disaster.
Ekhomu who is President of Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, said if disaster response had been prompt and effective some of the trapped victims in the plane would have been rescued before the fuel tank explosion.
According to him, it was a shame on Nigerian disaster responders, that the crash occurred in an urban setting, yet no soul was rescued.
He said the Dana Air Flight 992 crash showed the weak under-belly of Nigerian disaster response infrastructure.
The disaster response agencies included the fire services, the government's technical aviation agencies, National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, the various Police agencies led by the Nigeria Police Force.
He said the airlines also had a duty to have sound disaster response plans which would kick in once a jet is stricken.
The Airline disaster plan would appoint an emergency coordinator who will martial help to the aircraft in distress.
The security chief also called for Incident Command System to be adopted in Nigeria.
This would help to order a disaster scene ensuring that there was smooth co-ordination among disaster management agencies.
He also called for proper site security at air crash sites which will define an inner cordon or (hot zone) which is the actual crash site, a warm zone or buffer area also known as transition zone, and a cold zone or outer area where normal activities will go on such as media briefing, temporary mortuary, triage, staging area and spectator area.
Ekhomu counseled that anytime there was an air crash, armed troops should be deployed to protect the crash site and enforce site security along with Police personnel and civil defenders.
According to him, “an air crash is a national security event and should not be left to area boys to manage”.
He also deplored the blocking of access roads to Dana Air crash site by on lookers and area boys preventing responders to reach victims in a timely manner.
He advised the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to order Police personnel to search buildings proximate to the crash site and arrest persons who freely stole property from the crash site.
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