More specifically, the scenario concerned a civilian passenger airplane which during landing at the Larnaka airport, suffered mechanical failure that forced the Captain to execute an emergency landing. The aircraft derailed from the landing strip and ended up in the salt lake inside the airport.

The JRCC immediately activated the National Special Plan “TEFKROS” to handle the incident, mobilizing all the involved services. In the exercise, forces of the Police, the Fire Department and more specifically of the Larnaka Airport Fire Station and DRSU (Disaster Response Special Unit), the General Staff of the National Guard with search teams of the Underwater Demolition Team of the Navy Command and the Special Operations Forces of the Special Forces Command, assets and personnel of Hermes Airports, the Larnaka Airport Services of Civil Aviation, search teams of Larnaka Civil Defence and Forestry Department, personnel of the Lifeguard team of the Larnaka Airport, as well as the operators of the Coastal Surveillance System and UAVs of JRCC.

The main purpose of the exercise was the training of the involved personnel and its familiarization with the salt lake environment, as well as the testing of the specialized equipment for dealing with incidents in salt lakes, like hovercrafts and floating docks.

The operational control and coordination of the involved Units, was under the Larnaka Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC), while the preparation and planning of the exercise was carried out in cooperation with Hermes Airports, which is the Operator of Larnaka and Pahos airports.