Terror drill tests US hospitals

Medical staff colour-code patients according to their 'condition'

The biggest anti-terrorism exercise ever held in the US has entered its second day, with the focus shifting to how hospitals cope with casualties.

More than 10,000 people are taking part in the five-day exercise, which also involves Canadian and UK officials.

The exercise began on Monday with a simulated biological attack in New Jersey and a mock chemical attack at a port on the coast of Connecticut.

The drill is meant to expose weak spots in US emergency planning.

Although no real weapons or biological agents are being used, federal and local officials as well as emergency services are expected to respond as if it is the real thing.

Fake plague attack

The $16m exercise known as TOPOFF 3 (for Top Official) began on Monday with a simulated pneumonic plague attack on the campus of Kean University in Union, New Jersey.

Homeland Security officials are monitoring the drill closely

On Tuesday morning, dozens of fake patients began arriving at nearby Union Hospital, acting as victims of the attack.

Four large inflatable decontamination tents were erected in the hospital car park to help deal with the dozens of people who had arrived by 0900 (1400 GMT).

"Patients" were assessed by medical staff wearing protective clothing and given a colour-coded toe tag denoting the severity of their condition.

Five of the 65 people seen were given black tags, identifying them as dead.

International participation

Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, hundreds of other mock patients will show up at Union Hospital and other health care facilities.

Hospitals will also be tested in New London, Connecticut where a chemical attack was staged on Monday, with buses overturned and volunteers daubed with make-up replicating chemical burns.

Hospitals will remain open to treat real patients during the exercise.

The drills are being monitored by Department of Homeland Security officials from a command centre near Washington, as well as regional centres in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Over the course of the five days, an international element to the crisis will unfold, involving officials in Canada, where the exercise is known as Triple Play, and in the UK, where it is known as Atlantic Blue, to test how the three countries will react and co-ordinate information.