2 airlifted after N.L. mock disaster goes awry

A mock disaster turned frighteningly real in western Newfoundland Thursday, as crews that had been rehearsing a massive evacuation dealt with almost two dozen cases of smoke inhalation.

Search and rescue technicians aboard a Cormorant helicopter airlifted two people,one of whom isin serious condition,CBC Television reporter Peter Gullage said.

Smoke overwhelmed a number of participants in the exercise, and21were sent to hospital for treatment.

"The drill turned from make believe to very real," said Gullage, from aboard one of the vessels in the Bay of Islands, near Corner Brook.

Numerous authorities had been taking part in an emergency preparedness exercise.

"We don't have all the information on how it happened right now. Apparently it was smoke from a lifeboat was the cause of it," Brian Stone, superintendent of Maritime Search and Rescue, said Thursday afternoon.

Stone said officials believe that some of the fibreglass on the lifeboat had started smoking, overwhelming its occupants.

An investigation was launched immediately, while the remainder of the exercise was cancelled.

The exercise in which participants were simulating an at-sea explosion aboard a Marine Atlantic ferry ran into trouble after a lifeboat was launched from the Leif Ericson.

The rush of injured participants to Western Regional Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook prompted officials to close non-urgent admissions to the hospital for several hours.

As of early Wednesday evening, officials were planning to fly three patients for further treatment to St. John's.

Gullage said crews shifted seamlessly froma simulated emergency to a genuine one, although some participants were not aware that the stakes had become very real.

Calls were made over emergency airwaves for oxygen supplies, he said.

The exercise involved Marine Atlantic ferries, as well as HMCS Moncton and Canadian Coast Guard personnel.

A key component of the exercise, Gullage said, was a fake explosion. He had been shooting the exercise for an upcoming report.