Emergency call-outs increase amid rioting chaos in capital

The National National
St John Ambulance staff preparing to head out to check on people injured during riots in the National Capital District last week. – SJApic

ST JOHN Ambulance (SJA) responded to about 50 emergencies in relation to last week’s chaos in centres, including Port Moresby.
Ambulance spokesperson Lulu Mark said the service had attended to 269 emergency incidents, surpassing a typical volume of between 80 and 100 for a 48-hour period.
Mark said around 50 of those incidents were related to the unrest.
“Ten in Lae in Morobe, one in Kokopo, East New Britain and the reminder in the National Capital District,” she said.
Mark said for the cases related to the unrest, the emergencies were caused by burns from building fires, gunshots and trauma.
She said with the unrest, the ambulance activated a major incident command early on Wednesday afternoon and had responded to an influx of calls, mainly trauma emergency around the city.
“The reports of emergency incidents were spread around Port Moresby on Wednesday,” she said.
“On Thursday, Lae reported a high number of emergency incidents directly related to the unrest.
She said one of the challenges the ambulance officers had faced was security.
“The ambulance service was responding to life life-threatening emergencies as quickly as possible and doing all possible to maintain the safety and security of the St John people at the same time,” she said.
“Ambulance officers responding into the heat of rioting wore ballistic vests and ballistic helmets to protect them from stray bullets or other projectiles.”
Ambulance officer Alexander Dimain, while sharing his experience in responding to emergency incidents on Wednesday, said it was nothing like a normal day.
Dimain said normally the ambulance operations centre drops an emergency incident on an ambulance crew and they respond to it.
“This time we drove to an emergency scene and we were told there were casualties with burns, bullet wounds, trauma or lacerations from going through the debris of the looted shops,” he said.
“Some were seriously injured and there were reports of people dying but we were not able to confirm those reports. We were attending to one patient and were getting requests to see the others just around the corner.
“We moved from one end of the city to the other and back. We were stretched but we tried to give the best that we can.
“It was the first time for many of us to respond to such a major emergency incident. This situation highlighted the excellent coordination by the ambulance operations centre and the strong team spirit we have. It was also good to see the communities supporting us and letting us through to help the injured amidst the chaos.”