LIFE AFTER SQ006 - Orient Aviation

c o v e r s t o r ySIA’s crisis ‘samaritans’ are ...The best of buddiesBy Barry GrindrodIn SingaporeSiddy Baharuddin, one of SingaporeAirlines (SIA) most experienced“buddies” – volunteers who assist intimes of crisis – says she has found herself anew “brother”.She met him in the worst possible circumstances,the day after SIA had its worst evercrisis: on the night of October 31 when LosAngeles-bound Flight SQ006 crashed trying totake off from Chiang Kai-shek airport in Taipei.Eighty three passengers and crew of the 179on board died. Many others were injured.The graphic television pictures of a burningplane shocked and horrified viewers. Nonemore so than the people of Singapore.But the accident brought out the best inone group of people, the SIA “buddies” whosejob it is to assist in caring for the relativesand friends of victims and assist survivors.It’s a tough job, physically and mentallydraining. But there are compensations forboth parties.Siddy’s new brother lost his mother inthe crash and the relationship illustrates thestrength of the SIA buddy system and theextraordinary compassion and caring of thebuddies themselves. The bonds formed inmany cases lead to very special and longstandingfriendships.Siddy, a senior SIA sales representative andone of the airline’s most experienced buddies,first saw “active service” in December, 1997,when SilkAir, a wholly owned subsidiary ofSIA, lost a B737 with 103 passengers and crewon board over Indonesia. It crashed into a riverin Palembang.“The two accidents were very different.There were no survivors in the SilkAir accidentand the crash site in Palembang was veryisolated. It was not easy for friends and relativesto visit. There were no faxes or phonesto use,” said Siddy.The hardest part of the job? Breaking badnews to the families, said Siddy. “With SQ006there were many different nationalities,different races, so choosing the right wordsto tell people their loved ones had perishedwas important.“At first in Taipei we did not have a preciseSiddy Baharuddin: “We have to letourselves be punching bags ... It is partof the anger process for the next of kin”list of passengers and their condition so wecould not tell people anything. It was verydifficult. We could not build up their hopes.“It is important in those very difficultcircumstances that we understand what thenext of kin were going through and allowthem to use us as a punching bag. This is partof the anger process, but as the day goes onthey begin to realise we are there to help andthey become very close to you. From a painfulexperience something beautiful develops andreal friendships emerge between the buddiesand relatives.”Ruth Kelly is SIA’s vice-president customeraffairs and heads the buddy programme.“What happened on the night of the accidentwas incredible. We have a list of 385 trainedbuddies in Singapore, but as the news wasbreaking people who were not registered asbuddies turned up at the crisis managementcontrol centre at Changi airport in droves. Itwas wonderful. People arrived all throughthe night. Some got out of bed, others hadjust returned from duty travel. Some staffreturned from leave early just to be there.They wanted to help. They had no idea whatthey would be doing because they were nottrained buddies. But they either helped withadmin, were runners for buddies or had thelanguage skills we needed in Taipei.”The initial group of more than 100 buddieswas on the first flight to Taipei at 6.30am.Within a couple of days, scores more back upbuddies flew to Taipei. “We had more than300 in Taipei, not all at once, because somewere relief buddies,” said Kelly. It’s estimateda buddy, on average, is mentally prepared forseven to 10 days for crisis support before he orshe needs to “recharge the batteries”.“I have never seen so much motivationand enthusiasm as there was in that first 48-72 hours after SQ006 crashed. How peoplemoulded and got on with the situation wasphenomenal,” she said.“What also has to be remembered issomeone has to cover for the buddies back inthe office, which means that staff throughoutthe network are playing their part in crisismanagement.”The buddy system was launched by“Shock treatment” is part of the buddy training programme when film clips and newspapercoverage of accidents are analysed and discussed22 | Orient Aviation | March 01