TO ensure air and sea safety, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged strict compliance with a policy of installing alert signals on planes and ships.
Also, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, yesterday said all commercial aircraft flying within the country's airspace had the Emergency Location Transmitters (ELT) installed on board their cockpit in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations.
The ELT transmits a unique code that enables search authorities to identify the owner of a beacon that is triggered which is particularly useful when there has been unintentional beacon activation to avoid unnecessary and costly searches.
There have been insinuations in some quarters that the AOS helicopter that crashed in Osun State last week may have flown without the important device.
Speaking at a stakeholders' forum organised by NEMA to tackle the issue of search and rescue during accidents following the helicopter plane, which crashed at Ikonifin in Osun State last week killing the managing director of Bacita Sugar Company and two other occupants of the plane, the NCAA chief insisted that the ill-fated helicopter had an ELT on board.
The development came even as the director general of NEMA, Muhammed Sani Sidi, called for a serious sanction on any airline or maritime operator that failed to install the ELT beacon 406MHZ on their aircraft or vessels.
According to the NEMA chief, failure to install this high tech equipment on board may make search and rescue difficult for the agency.
The installation of the equipment on board he said, would minimise the usual problem of locating accident sites.
Sidi who sought collaboration between stakeholders and strict adherence to rules and regulations guiding the conduct of aircraft and maritime operators, appealed to all relevant agencies not to leave the functions of search and rescue to NEMA alone.
The objective of the meeting according to Sidi was not to apportion blame over past incidents but to deliberate on how to ensure that aviation and maritime operators comply strictly with international best practices and regulations regarding the use of 406MHz beacon.
At the forum, stakeholders agreed on the need to come together to enhance safety during emergencies.
The meeting was organised by NEMA on the use of 406 MHZ beacon on aircraft and ships for the purpose of improving aviation and maritime safety as well as tools to manage disasters effectively and efficiently.
ELTs are part of the equipment for the improvement of search and rescue operations using space technology.
The basic operational concept of
COSPAS-SARSAT is to transmit signals from a location on the earth to a search and rescue (SAR) satellite and retransmission of the same signal to ground stations.
The Guardian