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Bahrain Airport Company, in co-ordination with various governmental authorities, will be conducting a full scale emergency exercise at Bahrain International Airport (BIA) on December 4.

The exercise will involve a dummy aircraft with actors who will play the role of the injured or deceased and the location of this drill will be on the airport’s airside, south east of the runway.

The exercise will take place around 9pm and will last for one to two hours. However, steps have been taken for it not to affect the normal operations, movement and functions at the airport.

The public, passengers and onlookers within the vicinity of the airport (both inside and out) are urged not to be concerned and should not be alarmed by the movement of emergency and rescue services, even on roads leading up to the airport.

In line with the requirements of Bahrain’s Civil Aviation Affairs and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, full scale emergency exercises involving aircrafts are held every two years at BIA and provide the ideal platform to test and practice the Airport Emergency Plan. The exercise will involve a coordinated effort from BAC, the Civil Aviation Affairs, Health, Interior, Defense and Information Ministries, plus several other organisations, including the Bahrain Defense Force, National Guard, Bahrain Airport Services, Gulf Air, Bahrain Duty Free and DHL.

This exercise is part of the airport’s operators’ and stakeholders’ and the Government authorities’ commitment to test their emergency plans to ensure that all those involved are well-trained and equipped to handle any emergency and rescue operation in case of an accident with seamless coordination.

Mohamed Al Awadhi, Corp Comms senior officer.

Your article ‘Forced to Move!’ on Page 1 in last week’s GulfWeekly was very moving. We are sad to see our fellow Muharraqis leaving the area and being chased out. We, The Country Club, own our property and will stay put, though, it is, of course, tempting to and relocate. 

Imagine, Bahrain is becoming segregated. There are ‘no go’ zones. Many people, Bahrainis included, do not feel safe to travel in this small island.

We are hoping that our government will see the light and take the necessary action to keep us all safe from these thugs; we wish to speak the truth, but that is not permitted, hence, we have to be diplomatic. 

There is absolutely no justification to permit these thugs from taking over civil society. Drastic action must be taken against their leaders, instigators … and we all know who they are. We, Bahrainis, have every right to live peacefully and to conduct our business anywhere in Bahrain.  

Last week, the political group, Al Wefaq was permitted to demonstrate on Sehla Road. Our properties were vandalised by way of graffiti, the roads were left filthy and street lighting was damaged. We are sending an invoice to the society to pay for the damage to our boundary walls. We are unable to claim for loss of income as our legal system is not that sophisticated.

Bahrain should simply wake up, be sensible, and take very tough measures against these thugs. Keep our communities safe and do not permit the weekly demonstrations as we all know the true wishes of these thugs. We must be vigilant and take appropriate action to defend our Bahraini heritage. 

Don’t be afraid to send young people to youth detention centres, arrest and punish their parents as they have a responsibility to control their children. The parents teach their children from birth this route of destruction, it is nothing new.

Obviously, we are upset that the government has permitted things to reach this level; in the past the government was much more aware and took preventative action as, and when, necessary.

Karim Mansouri,
by email.