The transport ministry, the Tokyo Fire Department and other organizations conducted a large-scale rescue drill at Haneda Airport on Thursday, where a Japan Airlines passenger jet and a Japan Coast Guard plane collided on Jan. 2.
Assuming that an engine of a plane with 174 passengers and crew members on board caught fire and caused many injuries, more than 1,000 participants practiced procedures for putting out fires and rescuing people involved in the accident.
Specifically, fire trucks from the ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau were deployed on the initial extinguishing operation and medical staff performed triage to send injured people to hospital by helicopter and ambulance.
Rescue team members also practiced bringing out those who had failed to leave the plane.
The ministry applied lessons from the runway collision to the airport drill, the largest of its kind in Japan.
Because the accident occurred at nighttime during the New Year's holiday, the ministry had difficulty quickly calling up relevant officials, smoothly guiding outside emergency vehicles to the accident site and properly communicating with the fire department and medical institutions.
"I think we have rectified problems highlighted by the accident," Shinji Matsuoka, head of the bureau's Haneda Airport administrative office, said. "We will conduct a drill like this regularly."
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