Mock chemical strike ‘worked well’
Over 500 police, fire, ambulance and rail personnel responded efficiently to the mock terror strike on London Underground on Sunday.
Passengers on a Tube train from Waterloo to Bank station were dowsed down in special shower tents outside the station to simulate a “chemical” decontamination process.
Many “patients” were transported to the accident and emergency wing at University College Hospital.
The mock set-up mirrored in part the grim reality of the 1995’s sarin gas attack on Tokyo underground by the Aum religious sect, which killed 12 people and left thousands sick.
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said the staged attack provided valuable insights in how the emergency services operated in extreme circumstances.
Mr Livingstone said: “As we get better at understanding what our enemies will try and do and as we actually try to responded to that, when an attack comes, if it comes, we will be able to minimise the lose of life.
“No one is saying people won’t die, but our job is to keep the casualties at a minimum.”
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said Sunday’s test “worked well,” and formed part of a “number of [upcoming] exercises.”
“In the last couple of years the government has spent a considerable amount of money getting more equipment to make sure that we are able to react with any attack.
“It is too early to draw firm conclusions, but the initial signs are that many aspects have work well. The Fire Brigade is testing new equipment that they have taken possession of over the last few months.”
Oliver Letwin, Conservative party home affairs spokesman, said more must be done to prepare for the possibility of a real strike on UK soil.
He said: “I think today’s exercise was useful and constructive and I welcome the fact, albeit it a couple of years late, that these sort of things are now beginning; but it is I’m afraid, just a beginning.
“It remains the case that there are at least seven government departments responsible for this job and they have no adequate co-ordination between them.”
Meanwhile, plans to evacuate millions of Londoners in the event of a terror strike have been leaked to The Sunday Times.
The confidential proposals, codenamed Operation Sassoon, were presented to the London Resilience Forum at the Cabinet Office in July, according to the paper.
