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| Down Under |
| Airport illness remains mystery |
| 2005-04-04 |
| AN inquiry has failed to identify what sickened almost 60 people at Virgin Blue's Melbourne terminal, disrupting its operations for days. The inquiry report, by Victoria's emergency services commissioner Bruce Esplin, said delays in calling in calling in experts from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) may have prevented authorities from determining the cause of the mystery illness. And the report made a string of recommendations to improve the handling of any similar incidents. A total of 57 people were struck down with vomiting, nausea and shortness of breath at Melbourne airport earlier this year. Virgin Blue's terminal was shut down for the best part of a day as fleets of ambulances transported 47 ill and distressed people to hospitals. The other 10 were treated at the scene. Domestic airport operations were disrupted for another two days. State Emergency Services Minister Tim Holding said Mr Esplin had recommended the fire brigade be called in immediately in future incidents. "Unfortunately, it has been unable to determine the exact cause of that event," Mr Holding said. "That is in the circumstances understandable. "The airport rescue and firefighting service who were the event co-ordinator and the responders to this event do not have the equipment or the expertise to test for hazardous materials or hazardous substances or other potential materials ... " he said. Mr Holding took care not to point the finger of blame at federal authorities for failing to immediately call in fire brigade experts. "The importance of a report like this is not to allocate blame," he said. "We are certainly in this incident not seeking to blame the federal authorities in any way. "What we are seeking to do is to take what we can learn from these incidents and ensure that in the future the best possible planning and co-ordination is in place." Mr Esplin said decisions such as turning the air-conditioning in the terminal to outside spill made his task of identifying the cause of the illness more difficult. But he said the incident would ultimately help improve responses to any similar incidents in the future. "Under the new arrangements the MFB will be called in much earlier in future, and they will be called as part of a first response to the incident," he said. The Victorian Government, which ordered the inquiry, has written to Prime Minister John Howard, asking that airport emergency response services call the MFB immediately if a similar situation occurs again in Melbourne. Comment was being sought from Melbourne Airport and from Virgin Blue. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |