Guard rescues wounded man from drain

Durban - A security guard climbed into a stormwater drain to rescue an injured man in Phoenix early on Sunday.

The unidentified man told KZN VIP Unit security guard, Desmond Wolfaardt, he had been walking in Cyclops Street just after 5am.

He claimed a car followed him and the next moment he heard gunshots. The man claimed he ran for cover and crawled into a stormwater pipe.

Wolfaardt said while the man’s version of events was hard to believe, he had been more concerned with getting the man medical attention.

Wolfaardt said a member of the public walking in the road had heard screams for help. On closer inspection of the bushes and stream alongside the road, the person again heard the cries.

He alerted a resident who called KZN VIP Unit. Wolfaardt and his partner, Sashen Govender, arrived and began looking through a small stream and bushes.

“I crept down the side of the stream embankment and peered into a stormwater pipe. I heard cries for help. It sounded like the person was quite a distance away. It was out of my torchlight range. I went on to the road and used wire to lift up the storm water drain lid and got inside,” Wolfaardt said.

Before climbing into the pipe, which ran beneath the road at a slight incline, Wolfaardt pushed a long bamboo pole down it and asked the man to grab hold of it, but it was still out of his reach. When Wolfaardt got into the pipe he said he heard the man moaning in pain.

“He said he couldn’t move. The fire department gave me a rope. I was on my knees inside the pipe. I threw the rope towards the man in the distance. He somehow grabbed it. I told him to lie on his belly and I pulled him out to safety. I did not realise how badly injured he was until we got him up to road level,” Wolfaardt said.

The rescue took 30 minutes. The man had suffered a compound fracture to his foot and had been in the pipe for a few hours. The pipe was full of water and debris. He told guards that he lived in Bhambayi, near Phoenix.

Glen Naidoo of KZN VIP Security said the man could not identify the vehicle or the shooter that had allegedly chased him.

“We sometimes go beyond the call of duty. Time was a factor here and our guards had to react quickly to save the person’s life.

“It could have turned tragic,” Naidoo said.