Date:09/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/09/stories/2008080954820600.htm

Tamil Nadu

Mock drill held at Tuticorin Port Trust school

Staff Reporter

Tuticorin: Passersby panicked for a moment as children of Port Trust school ran out of the campus and CISF men equipped with bomb detection gadgets rushed into the institution premises here on Friday, before they could realise that it was a mock drill.

The exercise was conducted by the Tuticorin Port Trust administration in the wake of serial blasts that rocked many parts of the country and rumours of bomb scare at schools in Ahmedabad. “Our aim is to explain how students should be evacuated in an organised manner within a short period of time and to prevent any stampede,” G.J. Rao, chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust, told The Hindu.

About 25 CISF personnel under the supervision of Assistant Commandant P.K. Moorthy and Inspector K.G Prakash, demonstrated how the explosives that were traced should be covered by ‘bomb blankets’ to control the splinters from shattering.

They also showed the procedures followed to remove injured persons from the blast site.

The CISF men advised the students to bring to the notice of the teachers about any unclaimed baggage they had noticed on the school premises.

He said that more such drills would be conducted in other institutions too.