Authorities are still on the lookout for two armed men who attacked a group of hikers on the Silvermine hiking trail between Silvermine Nature Reserve and Kalk Bay on Saturday. The incident occurred when a group of 9 hikers encountered two men who pretended to be on the same route.
Wilderness Search and Rescue spokesperson Johan Marais said the men joined the group on the hike for about 20 minutes before they attacked the hikers.
“The two males then suddenly attacked the original group participants and stabbed and injured at least five people,” Marais said.
The hikers tried to escape the attackers by scattering. The injured was hoisted by helicopter to various hospitals in the city.
Meanwhile, The Table Mountain Watch Group said that authorities had failed to implement an appropriate safety plan to maintain the safety of hikers, despite numerous calls to do so.
Table Mountain Watch’s, Andrè van Schalkwyk, said that there had been a number of discussions with authorities.
“I can’t emphasise how upset people are. We’ve been trying to get the authorities to look at a safety plan since September last year. We met with authorities in the provincial administration. We went into the season without a plan. On the mountain users side, we are the ones that are getting hurt,” he told Prime Media.
Earlier this month, a 39-year old Egyptian tourist was stabbed in a robbery at Long Beach in Noordhoek. In December last year, five teenage girls were at held knifepoint and robbed of their possessions by a gang targeting teenagers as they exited the beach.
Last week, SANParks expressed concern over the recent incidents in the Table Mountain National Park and urged tourists to report any crime to the nearest police station.
http://www.capetownetc.com/news/safety-concerns-table-mountain-national-park/
Picture: Cape Town Tourism