Above: The wreck of the car and ambulance after they crashed in Lynbrook on Saturday.By Sarah Schwager
TWO paramedics were among seven people taken to hospital after an ambulance on its way to an emergency became the victim in its own collision.
The ambulance was on its way to a car fire on the Western Port Highway when it collided with a car on the corner of Lynbrook Boulevard and South Gippsland Highway in Lynbrook just before 1am on Saturday.
Andrew Watson, Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) area manager, said a Mitsubishi sedan, driven by a P-plater and carrying five people, mostly teens, collided with the side of the ambulance.
A Noble Park man, 21, Hallam girl, 15, Narre Warren South girl, 15, Cranbourne boy, 15, and Hampton Park boy, 16, were taken to the Dandenong and Frankston hospitals.
Mr Watson said the ambulance was responding to an emergency and had its lights and sirens on and was travelling through a green light when the crash occurred.
He said while the ambulance was wrecked, the two paramedics were saved by airbags surrounding the seats and walked away relatively unscathed.
They quickly jumped out of the ambulance and began treating people in the car.
“You never want to see an ambulance in an incident,” Mr Watson said.
“We have 800 to 1000 cases a day. That’s a lot of ambulance responses – the most out of all emergency services with light and siren conditions.
“Therefore we are always at the mercy of other drivers.”
He said while the ambulance drivers were well trained to handle driving conditions, people needed to watch out for ambulances, give way, and take evasive action where they could.
“Even at one in the morning you have to be alert. Just because the roads are empty doesn’t mean there are no dangers,” he said.
Mr Watson said the paramedics were taken to Valley Private Hospital but were released soon after and returned to work yesterday (Wednesday).
Cranbourne police are still investigating the incident.
