CT paramedic stabbed, ambulance vandalized in attack

Natasha Mabuto

19 July 2016

Two paramedics have been attacked near Blackheath, in Cape Town. The crew was responding to an emergency at the Happy Valley informal settlement early yesterday morning. It is the latest of several attacks on medical personnel in the city in recent weeks.

The paramedics were ambushed by four armed men as they were loading a patient into an ambulance. Emergency medical services’ Robert Daniels says an official was stabbed and the vehicle vandalized.

The attackers demanded the crew’s personal valuables including wallets, mobile phones and handbags and afterwards they stabbed the paramedic with a broken bottle. The other paramedic was threatened with a knife but fortunately not harmed.

The incident is the third assault on emergency medical personnel in Cape Town in less than a month. Paramedics have also requested police protection when entering gang-stricken areas like Hanover Park.