SA paramedic dies in UAE chopper crash
A SOUTH African paramedic died in a helicopter crash in Ras al-Khaimah in the north-eastern region of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday.
Mark Gavin Roxburgh was one of four crewmen who died after the helicopter they were in spun out of control before crashing into the side of Jebel Jais mountain.
It is believed that before the helicopter crashed, it clipped the world’s longest zipline, the Jebel Jais Flight, which runs for about 2.8km in the mountainous area.
Roxburgh’s sister Lindy-Lee Felix confirmed her brother’s death in a Facebook post yesterday.
Felix wrote about her “biggest hero,” informing friends and family that he was killed on a rescue mission.
“My heart breaks with the families of the three others who lost their lives. The memories flood my heart of a strong, courageous, selfless man. A loving uncle, son and brother, a passionate father,” she wrote.
According to the UAE news agency, The National, pilots Saqr Saeed Mohamed Abdullah Al Yamahi and Hameed Mohamed Obaid Al Zaabi, and navigator Jasim Abdullah Ali Tunaiji also died in the incident.
AP reported that Ras al-Khaimah’s ruler Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi ordered an immediate investigation.
According to Roxburgh’s social media pages, the former Durban University of Technology student was a single father who had been working in the Middle East for the past eight years.
He first worked in Qatar before moving to the UAE in 2015 to join Abu Dhabi Aviation as a search and rescue winchman-paramedic.
A winchman-paramedic uses crew resource management techniques, procedures and policies to safely locate and rescue stranded survivors and patients.
Earlier in his career, he was a firefighter at the Sandton Fire Department in Johannesburg.
In other paramedic-related news, KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said the arming of paramedics could not be ruled out because of the violent situations that emergency workers have to deal with.
However, he said the matter had not been broadly discussed and there were several factors to be considered.
“We expose our staff members to such dangers, probably some of them are going to areas that are known to be crime infested.”
Dhlomo was commenting after a paramedic was stabbed by three men while entering an emergency medical services base at Illovo on the KZN South Coast on Saturday.
Philani Nzuza was stabbed in his chest and head.
Dhlomo said: “It is worrying that a health worker in full uniform can be attacked by thugs. We are glad he survived.”
The attack comes after the South African Emergency Personnel Union last week called for its members to arm themselves after more than 30 attacks on paramedics in the past six months.