A report of the response to an emergency at Melbourne Airport on 21 February 2005.

"24 March 2005"

Cover title.

Spiral binding.

On 21 February 2005, State and Commonwealth emergency services were involved in a multi agency response to an incident at Melbourne Airport resulting in the evacuation and closure of the southern terminal housing Virgin Blue Airlines. The incident began at around 7:10 am as a medical response to a collapsed female by the Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) service and concluded shortly after 6:00 pm with the repoening of the southern terminal. By the end of the day 57 people had been seen by ambulance officers, 47 of whom were transported to hospital. All, but one with an underlying medical condition were released the same day. It has been reported that symptoms persisted in some people for a number of days. The review identified coordination shortcomings involving a range of agency processes during the incident. While these did not materially affect the outcome in terms of public safety, they contributed to the public perception that the incident was not well managed.