Head set to roll over Matara fiasco
Formal inquiry held at Mattala airport and Chief Airport Manager will be replaced, says AASL Chief
Ahead is set to roll over the fiasco which gripped the country after 15 Russian cargo flight crew members walked out of the Mat t a l a R a j ap a k s a International Airport ( MRIA) in the south and sought lodgings at a beach boutique resort in Polhena, Matara, without undergoing quarantining.
The Chief Airport Manager of the MRIA will be replaced by a more senior and experienced person and interviews are underway to select a candidate for this position, Airport and Aviation Services Limited ( AASL) Chairman, Major General (Retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri told the Sunday Times on Friday evening.
Assuring that a formal inquiry has been held into the incident, he said that the people responsible have been appropriately punished and the MRIA will now have the presence of the security forces and a security marshal as well, to ensure that no one can leave the airport without being escorted by the security forces to follow proper quarantine procedures.
“Counter-measures and counter-counter measures have also been taken to make sure that this incident isn’t repeated,” said Mr. Chandrasiri, explaining that the Chief Airport Manager had not looked into what he was supposed to, such as informing the hotel, ensuring that health procedures were followed, transport, etc. He would be put under a different designation.
“Like I said before, it was a procedural error and these things can happen. We found that the higher authorities of the MRIA had been involved and there was a slip-up. There were a few elements that led to this incident, apart from the documentation error,” he said.
Like at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake, the Sunday Times learns that protocols such as every crew member undergoing an on-arrival RT-PCR test and then being escorted to a ‘designated’ hotel by the security forces would also be followed at the MRIA without disruption. The hotel would be guarded by the security forces to ensure that no one leaves it.
“Although this was happening at the BIA, there was an oversight by MRIA officials and oversights cannot be accepted because it is a threat to the safety of the country,” said Mr. Chandrasiri, referring to the incident surrounding the Russian crew who came in an Antonov An-124 on September 13.
He pointed out that even on Friday (October 2), another Antonov landed in Mattala and a crew of 20 followed the proper procedure. They underwent RT- PCR testing ( the results come after 6- 8 hours), then moved onto immigration, followed a disinfection process, after which they were escorted by the security forces to a designated hotel.
“These are set procedures that foreign crew members have to follow. These procedures include the regulations of the Health Ministry; those laid down by the AASL and those by the security forces. It is the Airport Manager’s responsibility to ensure that this information is communicated to foreign airlines,” he added.
There are two hotels each in the vicinity of both the BIA and MRIA, to accommodate foreign crew members, it is learnt.
According to Mr. Chandrasiri it is the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) which approves the period of stay in the country for a foreign flight crew for rest, etc.
When asked about the CAASL directive issued following the Mattala incident, he said they were “small changes” but declined to elaborate as they were “confidential regulatory changes”. These
changes were made to ensure that no such errors would take place ever again.
“After six years of being a sleeping airport, the MRIA has been activated. We thought the Airport Manager was experienced and would make the operations run smoothly. However, that was not the case and we have rectified it,” added Mr. Chandrasiri.
In an incident which sent Sri Lanka into shock, the 15 Russians (two captains, one flight officer, two navigators, two flight engineers, two engineers, four technicians and other crew) walked out of the MRIA, accompanied by an official on the night of September 13 and boarded two mini-buses sent by the resort and were driven to the Amaloh resort.
All systems got activated, with soldiers surrounding the Amaloh resort and fears running high that Matara would be put under a lockdown only after one Russian was diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 on September 23, in an RT-PCR test performed by a private hospital at the behest of the Russians themselves who were due to depart Sri Lanka the next day. By that time, four Russians (not the one who was detected as positive) had gone around Matara town in two trishaws, visiting several supermarkets.
With very serious allegations that some top officials of the MRIA may be involved in a racket by sending such foreign crew to hotels of their choice, rather than ‘ pre- determined hotels’, many sources also questioned how the systems failure permeated to ground level with the Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) not knowing that there were 15 foreigners in the Matara area.
Unusual rate was charged as commission by agent, alleges Amaloh resort owner
Amaloh resort owner, Chamara Perera, who lodged the Russians was insistent that they did “no wrong” and MRIA officials knew where the Russians were headed to, when they were walked out by an official.
“My managers and I are ready to face any inquiry,” he said, stressing that his staff informed the Matara PHIs about the arrival of the Russians and were only told to follow health measures such as hand-hygiene, face-mask wearing and
social distancing but not about restricting the Russians to their rooms. Everyone including the COVID-19 Centre knew of their arrival.
The 20-room resort manned by 28 staff is in Polhena.
Reiterating that “there was no procedural lapse (in sending the Russians to his hotel), the only procedural lapse was when hiding it”, Mr. Perera provided the following specific details to the Sunday Times.
He alleged that on the income the resort earned by putting up the Russians “a big portion” had to be paid back to the agent. It was surprising that the agent wanted such a big commission from the booking. It was an unusual rate. An agent asking for commission is not unusual in this line of business, however, the
40% cut that was asked for by this agent went beyond the usual 10-25%.
“The charge for each room was US$ 110 per night ( around Rs. 20,357) and the hotel got Rs. 11,600 and the agent wanted Rs. 8,640. The agreement with the agent was verbal,” he said.
Referring to the call made by his staff to the Polhena PHI, Mr. Perera said the number they called was 0715345960 at 8.38 a. m. on September 12 about the Russian guests they would be keeping at the resort. The conversation with the PHI lasted 4 minutes and 3 seconds and the PHI gave the usual instructions such as hand hygiene, social distancing and face- mask wearing. There was no instruction on quarantining or restricting the crew to their rooms.
He said that after the Russian crew members arrived at the hotel, they received a call from the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID- 19 Outbreak ( NOCPCO), Rajagiriya – 011-2820629, the listed number for the centre at 9.34 p.m. During this call lasting 1 minute and 41 seconds, the caller indicated that he was aware of the group in the hotel and if they show any symptoms of illness, to call that number immediately. Later there was also a call on the resort’s landline by the NOCPCO, with the caller wanting to speak to the captain of the Russian crew.
Mr. Perera alleged that on September 16, a call had been received by his staff asking that the agent’s commission be paid to a certain account number in a state bank to a certain account holder. Later, the Russians’ stay was extended by another 10 days and the payment to the hotel was arranged by the Dubai office of Aurora Airlines under which came the crew and was made through a Russian bank. The payment came three days later (September 18) amounting to US$ 16,125 (around Rs. 2,984,237).
“Before the four Russians went to town, the hotel staff had advised them not to do so, but they had pointed out that they ( the crew) were not under any restriction. It looked like they were not briefed either. If they were informed, I believe they would have adhered to that,” said Mr. Perera, adding that the staff had clearly told them that they should not repeat their visit outside the hotel as Sri Lanka was still not out of danger and they could catch an infection from the public or vice versa.
Thereafter, the Russians had lazed around the hotel, reading, using their computers and swimming in the private bay without using the swimming pool.
Mr. Perera added that the staff went into shock when on September 23, two personnel in spacesuits- like Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE) from the private hospital came to take the RT-PCR test samples. When one tested positive, there was chaos with soldiers surrounding the hotel and Polhena.
Later, however, the Russian tested negative for COVID- 19 but positive in an antibody test indicating that he had had a past infection.