Jerusalem: Drill envisions suicide bombing on light rail
Flames shoot up and 'blood' flows during Home Front drill in Jerusalem to examine security forces' and medical personnel's preparedness for a multi-casualty attack
In the shadow of the Burgas bombing, security forces on Wednesday conducted a drill to check protocols in the event of a terror attack on the light rail in Jerusalem. The Mount Herzl station became the site at which the hypothetical bomber would blow himself up; medical students acted the parts of wounded passengers and were "treated" by colleagues.
One student played the part of the suicide bomber to allow the doctors to practice treating the terrorist himself. All in all, some 30 people were "wounded" in varying degrees, with close to 100 students and doctors taking part.
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The drill was held under the auspices of a trauma course the students are taking and was designed to train them to treat victims of terror attacks, car accidents and severe violence. Police, Magen David Adom, Fire and Rescue Services, and the Home Front Command also took part in the exercise, which concluded at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, where the "victims" were transferred for further treatment.
After the 'terror attack' (Photos: Arik Abuloff, J'lem Fire and Rescue Services)
"This isn't a case of increase concern, but rather of constant vigilance," Jerusalem District Police Cmdr. Nisso Shaham explained. "There are no specific warnings of planned terror attacks. We are prepared for every possible terror scenario, and hope they won't happen."
Prof. Avi Rivkind, Head of the Department of General Surgery and the Shock Trauma Unit at Hadassah directed the drill, saying "The head of the event will need to make a decision that is very common in the Israeli reality. It's a difficult job to decide who is evacuated first, who last, and who is pronounced dead at the scene."
Medical students treat colleages acting the part of the wounded
"Unfortunately, the Israeli reality has turned our trauma doctors into super-experts. We have written entire protocols and changed the textbooks on trauma, and certainly on terror."
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch added that "This was one of the more complex drills that MDA, rescue service, and the police had participated in. This is an event that could (really) happen." Aharonovitch noted that practicing for such an event would make it easier to deal with in reality.
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