THE FRENCH RAILROAD SNCF ran a regularly scheduled in-house disaster drill Tuesday simulating a major incident with one of their ultra-high-speed TGV trains.
Part of the practice exercise involves the public relations department who are responsible for dissemination of the public information. Unfortunately, the faux press release was posted on their website instead of the training page and panicked relatives all over the country were greeted with:
An explosion of unknown origin occurred at 8am today aboard TGV1234, close to Macon.“The first estimates of the fire service say 102 people died and another 380 were injured. All the victims were evacuated to hospitals in Macon.
“Due to the dramatic events today on TGV1234, our site will only be publishing essential information. Thank you for your understanding.
It didn’t take long for the word to get back to HQ and the notice was quickly removed. “On March 16th, just before 12.00, an error appeared on the sncf.com site relaying information about an accident. This never took place,” the company said, adding that an investigation would seek to find out what had gone wrong as they were busily calming down distraught relatives who had been checking on their loved-one’s arrival schedules.
This tv news video shows the renegade web posting. Our friends in Quebec will also enjoy the report:
The London Telegraph has the STORY.
Firegeezer note: One more thing for you to keep in mind when you are carrying out a disaster training exercise.
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