To maintain operational readiness, MDA participated in an aviation emergency exercise at Israel’s main airport.
Magen David Adom participated in an emergency scenario at Ben Gurion Airport in which there was a plane crash involving 290 passengers.
As Israel’s national emergency services system, MDA participated in the aviation disaster drill along with the airport authority, the Israel police, the fire department, the IDF, and other essential service agencies. The objective of the exercise was to assess emergency protocols in order to ensure rapid response in the event of an emergency. MDA’s part entailed deploying hundreds of members of the MDA staff and volunteers to the site of the accident to triage and evacuate casualties.
During the exercise, the MDA national dispatch center received a report from the Ben Gurion Airport control tower of a plane malfunctioning followed by the plane crashing on the runway.
MDA dispatched hundreds of paramedics, EMTs, and first aid providers from the Yarkon, Ayalon, Dan, Sharon, Jerusalem, and Lachish regions to provide medical assistance to the 290 pretend victims. MDA teams arrived at the airport in dozens of emergency vehicles, including MICUs, ambulances, mass casualty incident stations, Medicycles, regional command posts, a national command vehicle, a Unimog, and an intensive care bus.
“I sincerely hope we will never have to use the knowledge and skills we gained. But if, God forbid, we were required to do so, MDA is prepared to quickly dispatch dozens of rescue vehicles if a plane crashes at Ben Gurion Airport, while continuing to provide medical assistance for routine events and be ready for additional emergencies,” said Eli Bin, director-general of MDA. “There’s no doubt that drills like this help maintain our team’s professional readiness.”
“We practiced handling a national-level event,” remarked Avichay Hadad, deputy regional director of the Dan region who commanded the exercise. “This is a complex drill that will allow us to be fully prepared with all our forces in case this type of event occurs at Israel’s main airport.”
