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ambulance via Shutterstock
Northern Ireland

Ambulance comes under attack while crew treats assault victim

Once it was safe to leave the vechicle, the crew discovered that someone had been stabbed close to the scene.

AN AMBULANCE WAS attacked in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, last night while the crew treated a victim of an assault.

And once the medics were able to leave the vehicle after police arrived, they discovered a man had been stabbed close to the scene.

“Another ambulance was sent to the scene while the crew who moments earlier were taking refuge in their vehicle immediately tended to the victim of the stabbing,” a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said.

The incident took place shortly before 8pm last night.

While treating a patient, a dozen young males in their late teens gathered outside the vehicle.

Soon afterwards, a bang was heard, and it was discovered that the ambulance’s windscreen had been smashed.

The spokesperson said the vehicle will now be off the road until it is repaired, ‘putting pressure on the fleet’.

“This incident highlights the commitment of NIAS crews to helping those in need while at the same time having to put their own physical and mental welfare to the side,” he added.

Unfortunately it also highlights that attacks on our crews are still happening despite our best efforts at educating the public about the impact this will have on our capacity to provide emergency response to life threatening calls in the area.

Paramedic: ‘It’s only a matter of time before an ambulance crashes or brakes fail’ >

Read: Dog hitches ride on side of ambulance after 85-year-old owner taken ill >

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