A second ambulance has been hijacked this week in KwaZulu-Natal after a hoax call, police said on Friday.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo said the latest incident happened on Thursday night at approximately 10pm in J-Section, Umlazi, near Durban. This first incident took place on Tuesday.
Naidoo said the Emergency Medical Response Service was called out to Umlazi’s J-Section where three men approached the ambulance claiming to be seeking assistance. The men boarded the ambulance and offered to accompany the paramedics to the house where the patient was.
When the ambulance arrived at a house in J-Section one of the men produced a gun and forced the driver to drive to AA-Section. Both victims were then forced at gunpoint by the third man to lie on the ground for approximately two hours. The other two robbers drove away in the ambulance.
After the third attacker had left, the victims were picked up by a police patrol van. They were taken to the police station and admitted to a local hospital for treatment for post-traumatic stress.
The ambulance is still missing. No arrests have yet been.
On Thursday a task team of experienced detectives was set up to probe Tuesday’s hijacking of two ambulance workers, who were forced to have sex with each other. The woman was then raped by the robbers.
A R50 000 reward will be offered to anyone providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the rapists.
”The men and women of the emergency services are there to save lives of the very people who are committing crimes against them,” provincial health spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo and Naidoo said in a statement after the first attack.
”We therefore appeal to the community to help us stop these incidents. It is time that we, the police and community, work together to put a stop to these crimes,” the officials said. – Sapa