Durban - Paramedics were called to Winston Park late Monday morning after a robber on a bicycle, clutching a television, went over a cliff during his getaway.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala said a 44-year-old woman and her family had been robbed of items including cash, jewellery and cellphones at their Alexander Drive home.
Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said reports indicated that after the robbery, the suspect made his escape by riding a bicycle down a steep hill while clutching a television. The robber was unable to stop at the bottom of the hill and went over a 25m cliff.
Botha said Netcare 911 paramedics found the man lying on his back at the bottom of the cliff with the television and bicycle close by. Medics and Police Search and Rescue used ropes to abseil down with their equipment to stabilise the critically injured man.
Medics had to sedate the man and put him on a ventilator before strapping him to a trauma board and then packaging him in a Stokes basket to prepare for the air force’s 15 Squadron to hoist them out from the steep area.
After the patient and rescue officer were safely in the Oryx helicopter, they flew to a nearby field from where an ambulance crew took the patient to a Durban hospital.
Gwala confirmed that police had made three arrests with one man having to be rescued from a cliff below Winston Park.
She said the suspects, aged from 23 to 25, would be charged with house robbery and would appear in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court soon.
The Mercury