Helicopters in LDA Plaza Fire Rescue Operation

[Abbas Ali]

Today (May 9) at least three helicopters were seen at site of Lahore Development Authority Plaza (LDA Plaza) building fire rescue operation. The fire had started on seventh floor of the building forcing some people to find refuge on building rooftop.

First helicopter to arrive at the scene was this one (probably serial number 32 or 92). Looks like a variant of Bell UH-1 Iroquois in Pakistan's Ministry of Interior inventory.





Then came Government of Punjab Mil Mi-17-1V (AP-BGX) to take part in rescue operation.








AP-BGX dropping a rescued person on vacant land.

A Pakistan Army sporting serial number 58666 also arrived to take part in this operation. Serial number 58666 appears to be Mil Mi-17 or its variant.








Thick smoke and rooftop antennas/towers were creating difficulties in aerial rescue operation.




One of persons rescued by Pakistan Army helicopter.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

AP-BGX photos.


Source: dawn.com


Source: abc.net.au

Abbas

[TAILWIND]

wondering why none of the helicopters was using the rescue hoist. The rescued persons were left dangling with the ropes which is very dangerous

[Shahab]

Really? Tailwind. This is because they probably don't have any rescue hoists. They probably are transport planes who took part in this make shift rescue on short notice. Hats off to the pilots as they worked in very trickey environment in urban clutter. What is more unfortunate is the fact that the fire fighters did not have equipment to reach the 7th floor. I highly doubt they had any breathing equipment to tackle the blaze from within the building. This is the state of nuclear Pakistan where perhaps human life is the cheapest commodity to spare.

Very sad state of affairs.

[Pineapple]

^ Is that true? That they do no have fire tenders, ladders or other equipment to reach a 7 storey building. I always thought the decent rescue 1122 network was upto the challenge of such emergencies.

[TAILWIND]

Really? Tailwind. This is because they probably don't have any rescue hoists. They probably are transport planes who took part in this make shift rescue on short notice. Hats off to the pilots as they worked in very trickey environment in urban clutter. What is more unfortunate is the fact that the fire fighters did not have equipment to reach the 7th floor. I highly doubt they had any breathing equipment to tackle the blaze from within the building. This is the state of nuclear Pakistan where perhaps human life is the cheapest commodity to spare.

Very sad state of affairs.

The two MI-17 helicopters (one army and other from Punjab Govt) have a 150 Kg rescue hoist on port door as standard equipment. May be they did not have the requisites harnesses?

[Abbas Ali]

AP-BGX in older photos appears to be without rescue hoist.



Abbas

[TAILWIND]

Abbass, They might have removed the hoist as the helicopter is mostly used for VIP transport. BTW the hoist can be fixed in 10 minutes.

[Shahab]

Tailwind, many thanks for the information. This is really sad as now I think these hoists will be stored in some warehosue somewhere (if not sold in bilal gunj). As you said these helicopters are used mostly as VIP transport I am not sure if the crew is aware of or is trained in search / rescue missions involving rescue hoist. This certainly is criminal where the govt does not have the necessary equipment or trained personal to deal with emergencies like this. As an example, before resuce 1122 in lahore and in whole of karachi edhi is the largest private ambulance service. This is not the job of Edhi or an NGO. This is the basic responsibility of govt to provide this service to its citizen. ok rant over for now

[TAILWIND]

Shahab Agree 100 % with you. The Pilots though are trained yet hardly practice such ops and may be rusty. But for sure, we donot have any trained paramedics or winchmen and requisite equipment (excpet few in Navy and AF) who can be lowered into such locations and rescue people out.
Not a very promising picture.

[Abbas Ali]

Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) - rescue.gov.pk - message published in today's (May 28) newspapers.

Apparently this message is in response to criticism of Rescue 1122 performance during LDA Plaza fire tragedy.

Note spellings of "casualties" and text "more then 60 feet" where it should have been "more than 60 feet".



Urdu version of the message.



Abbas

[Shahab]

What a lame excuse. Who allowed these towers to be installed in the first place. I am in telcoms for the last fifteen or so years. Everyone is happy to collect hefty rents off these towers and now they suddently became a hinderance. As far as I am aware all of these towers are installed after sorting the necessary paper work. Why is this not questioned then?

On a side note, was there any fire escape/exit in the building. Were there working fire alarms? LDA is responsible for these regulations themselves. No one else to blame other than themselves.

On a further side notes, does the rescue 1122 has the ability to tackle fire and rescue people thorugh stairs.