Paramedics hijacked outside Dullstroom, MEC condemns barbaric act
The Mpumalanga MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, condemned an incident in which two ambulance personnel were hijacked.
Two paramedics of the Belfast Provincial Ambulance Services are still suffering from severe shock, after being hijacked in the Dullstroom and Belfast district on Sunday May 15. The department said it is receiving a concerning number of reports about these cable ties and they were restrained in the back of the ambulance. They were taken out of the ambulance and left on the side of the road. A blanket was thrown over them and the hijackers drove off. They were left at the side of the road for hours, tied up.
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One of the robbers allegedly returned later in another vehicle and untied their hands. He returned their cellphones and instructed them to wait 20 minutes before phoning the police. The ambulance was found on Monday May 16 with its engine stripped out.
“It is quite disturbing how a sane person can target such a valuable and sensitive community resource like an ambulance. They do not care that a community member or a relative or sibling can lose their life due to the non-availability of an ambulance because the one available has been hijacked and stripped off the parts for their own selfish interests.
“While we are relieved that our crew members are safe and that they will be referred to an employee assistance programme for counselling. As a department, we cannot condone this barbaric act of criminality against our employees. We also condemn this thoughtless behaviour of taking valuable and much-needed medical emergency vehicles, because it means they have robbed the whole community. The case has been reported to law enforcement agents. No arrests were made by the time going to print.
