Riots delay ambulance’s emergency dash
Rioting in Obanjeni delays ambulance service by 90 minutes.
TRYING to reach a critically ill patient in Obanjeni outside Mtunzini on Monday night, an ambulance crew was delayed for more than 90 minutes by road blocks erected by rioting protestors
Disgruntled protestors were demonstrating about employment issues at the Tronox mine.
Ambulance service Meditrax’s Tracey Jonnes said they received a call-out to Obanjeni to assist a woman in desperate need of medical assistance. ‘A few kilometres from the woman’s house, we were met by blockades and burning tyres.
‘My first thought was that it could be a hi-jack attempt,’ said Jonnes
‘I told the driver to drive around the first obstacle it as quickly as possible, only to be confronteed by another burning blockade 20 metres further up the road.’
It was at this point that Jonnes noticed the flashing lights of police vehicles and fire engines through the smoke.
‘We explained our predicament and three police vehicles came to our aid and escorted us. Stones were thrown at the ambulance as we passed through two obstructed areas, but thankfully no one was injured,’
Arriving at the sick woman’s residence, Jones was informed that the ill patient had manage to make her way through the rioters and was waiting at the R102.
‘We had to turn around and make our way back again through the war zone, found the patient and transported her safely to hospital.’
