Bahrain's emergency services swung into action in response to a mock terrorist attack at the US Embassy on Monday.

The two-hour drill simulated a bomb explosion at the embassy in Zinj, which 'seriously injured' seven people, and caused 'minor to moderate injuries' to another eight people, said a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Interior Ministry officers and Salmaniya Medical Complex Accident and Emergency specialists and paramedics, were on the scene within minutes to 'evacuate' those injured to the hospital.

'The idea was to try and see how well we are prepared for such an eventuality,' said Accident and Emergency Department chairman Dr Jassim Al Mehza.

'In the end, we have come up with some shortcomings which we hope to get rid of in future exercises.'

The 'explosion' took place at around 9am when 'several people' were at the embassy, said Dr Al Mehza.

'We received the first call at around 9.15am and five ambulances were despatched to the scene.'

He said two senior doctors, Nasser Mohammed Mansoor and Mukesh Kapoor, were sent along with the paramedics to assess the situation.

'Some of the ambulances made more than two trips to bring the injured in,' he said.

Dr Al Mehza said the drill had gone off well but some shortcomings were noticed.

'For example, some of the communication equipment did not work at a critical time. This is being looked into,' he said.

'We managed with mobile telephones, but that cannot be depended on in an emergency.'

Another component was to look at the traffic situation en route.

'We had extraordinarily quick reaction time and were at the scene within around five minutes, notwithstanding the traffic conditions,' said Dr Al Mehza.

SMC paramedics' chief Abdul Hadi Abdulla said his teams acted professionally and quickly to deal with the disaster.

'As soon as we received the message, ambulances were out of the hospital and the first 'casualties' started arriving within 15 minutes,' he said

Abdulla said some glitches noticed during the rescue are being discussed and ironed out.

The exercise was organised by the embassy, in co-ordination with the SMC and the Interior Ministry. - TradeArabia News Service