PARAMEDICS were called in to rescue a robber who took a 25-metre plunge off a cliff in Winston Park yesterday afternoon.
Three men invaded a home in the area and made off with two bicycles, a TV, laptop, an iPad, two cellphones and other items. Barrett Pardey from the Winston Park Guardians was the first to arrive on scene, roughly two minutes after the call for help went out.
“I saw the three men running about 100 metres ahead of me through the bushes and shouted for them to halt. They didn’t stop. I fired a warning shot into the ground 10 metres ahead of me but they still kept running. I shouted for them to halt again and still nothing.
“I fired a second warning shot into the ground again, this time about 20 metres in front of me. Two men veered off down the path and the third, carrying a TV and bicycle, jumped off the cliff,” said Pardey.
In previous reports it stated the man fled on one of the stolen bicycles down a steep hill while clutching a TV and was unable to stop. These reports are incorrect.
According to Chris Botha, spokesman for Netcare 911, paramedics arrived at the scene and saw the man lying on his back at the bottom of the cliff with the TV and bicycle nearby. “Medics and the Police Search and Rescue Unit used ropes to abseil down the cliff with their equipment to stabilise the critically-injured man,” said Botha.
After he was sedated and placed on a ventilator, medics immobilised him on a trauma board and prepared him to be airlifted to a nearby field, where an ambulance crew was standing by. He was then taken to a hospital in Durban.
Below is a video of the rescue by Andreas Mathios (SA CAN):
