THE Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) is planning to implement a one-point communication system plan to enable the flow of information for all rescuing institutions in an effort to speed up the search and rescue processes.
The system will enable the rescuing bodies including Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (TASAC) to cooperate in various tasks, including sharing reports that would help in making a quick response in case of any problem.
The authority, yesterday conducted aviation disaster preparedness that included mock plane crash at Msufini village, Mkuranga District of the Coast region to test the preparedness of the search and rescue team.
The mock exercise involved an Embraer 120 (E120) plane carrying 25 passengers, flew from Kilwa Masoko to Tanga was also observed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
After the exercise TCAA’s Director of Air Traffic Management Services, Ms Flora Mwanshinga, stressed that a number of challenges have been observed by the ICAO observers including poor communication systems, and urged the authority to form a system that would coordinate rescue institutions to facilitate rescue activities.
“After ICAO observed some gaps in our rescue communication systems, we were advised to formulate a one-point communication system that would link the rescue teams in the country,” said Ms Mwanshinga.
She added that, the system will include all rescuing operations such as fire task force and police forces since it was found that these groups receive orders from their superiors leading to the delay.
Explaining other challenges facing the rescue teams, Ms Mwanshinga mentioned inadequate equipment in most hospitals as another challenge facing the search and rescue processes where she said the shortage hinders efficiency.
“Most of our hospitals do not have enough equipment to meet the demand in case of accident …for example, in the SOREX only one stretcher was used for rescuing services,” she said.
