Emergency intervention
A new tragic accident casts doubts on the activity of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations in Romania.
Roxana Vasile, 17.12.2014, 13:48
“The state leaves its citizens to die”, headlines a Romanian TV channel on its web page following Monday’s crash of a medical helicopter into the Siutghiol lake, in south-eastern Romania, a mere 500 metres from the bank. The helicopter carried 39-year-old doctor Laura Vizireanu, 38-year-old nurse Gabriela Harton, the pilot Petre Corneliu Catuneanu, aged 47, and his co-pilot Ginel Claudiu Cracanel, who was 42. They were part of a medical rapid intervention team and were on their way back from a case which they had handled successfully.
Why their helicopter crashed only 10 minutes after take-off and why these people died is still unclear. Eye witnesses from the bank who dialled the emergency number immediately after the crash say at least two people were still alive when they made the call, as they could hear their cries for help. They recorded everything on their mobile phones and the footage is now all over television and social media. The helicopter took off at 4.06 pm and crashed at 4.16.
The first emergency units left for the site of the crash 3 minutes after receiving the call. The ambulance cars, which were the first to arrive at the scene, couldn’t do anything because the helicopter crashed in water. Fire fighter units also left for the crash site from three different locations, the most remote being at only 6 km away. A unit with a boat also left from this location but, as expected, was the last to arrive. Once they reached the site, the boat crew realised they didn’t have the key for the boat engine and had to paddle their way to the spot of the crash.
It took hours for all the victims to be pulled out of the 2 degree Celsius water. According to an official report, all intervention teams acted in keeping with the legal procedures in place, but the reaction time was delayed because of technical problems. Interior minister Gabriel Oprea sacked the head of the local Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and proposed that the county prefect be replaced.
In the meantime, inquiries are under way to establish the cause of the accident. Experts are looking at every fragment of the helicopter, which was brand new, with only 180 hours of flight. A criminal investigation has also started. Just like in the case of a plane crash on the 20th of January in the Apuseni Mountains, western Romania, the official institutions in charge were unable to save human lives. In January, they blamed it all on the difficult terrain and the bad weather. Everybody is now waiting to see what they are blaming this time.
