Mayhem broke out in the Town Hill community in Pietermaritzburg on Monday afternoon when a prisoner receiving treatment from Grey’s Hospital escaped his hospital bed and fled into the streets.

An alert was promptly put out on social media groups calling for residents in the vicinity of the hospital to be on the lookout for and assist in apprehending the suspect.

AET rapid response officer Lance Falzwedel responded to the call and found the suspect hiding in the bushes near the hospital.

“We received a tip-off that the suspect was spotted at 31 Ann Stafford Drive and that he was hiding in the bush. Two of searched in the area and as we were about to leave, we saw the suspect run out of the bush.”

“He ran down the road towards Neden Road and we gave chase on foot through the bush. We apprehended him in the bush at the bottom of Neden Road.”

The suspect was clothed in grey tracksuit pants and a faded navy T-shirt. Once apprehended, he was handed over to the Jabu Ndlovu Street SAPS.

Sergeant Gwala, the SAPS spokesperson for the Pietermaritzburg district, said he could not comment until he had received the incident file.

Correctional services could not be reached for comment by the time of publishing.