The Marine West Division, in collaboration with the Airport District, the Airport Security Unit, the Fire Services Department, the Government Flying Service and the Marine Department, held an inter-departmental tabletop exercise on September 9. More than 50 officers simulated handling an aeronautical incident at the land-sea interface at the Hong Kong International Airport.

The exercise simulated a passenger aircraft carrying 100 passengers losing control due to an engine malfunction whilst landing on the third runway, subsequently overrunning into the sea with its fuselage partially submerged, and resulting in multiple casualties. To further increase the complexity of the rescue operations, the exercise also simulated a fuel leakage from the passenger aircraft that triggered a fire and caused marine pollution.

Through the exercise, the participating departments reviewed and discussed the arrangements covering on-scene command, information sharing, resource deployment, land and sea search and rescue, casualty management, maritime cordoning and marine pollution response to enhance the response capabilities of all parties in handling large-scale aeronautical incidents.

Representatives from various departments demonstrate seamless teamwork and coordination during the exercise.