Female tourists attacked by gunmen on way to Kruger National Park

Three terrrified female tourists, from the US, England and the Netherlands, were hijacked in South Africa by armed robbers who opened fire on their car, seriously wounding two of them.

The gang fired at least four bullets to force the car off the road and hit two of the volunteers who were on their way to the Kruger National Park to work with conservation and wildlife.

The victims were shot through the doors as bullets smashed the windscreen and windows, showering all three students – who were about to start a photography internship – with flying glass.

The masked gang then tore open the door of their Suzuki Chery and drove the hysterical girls to a quiet spot near White River, 25 miles from the Kruger gates, in Mpumalanga Province.

The shocking attack is being treated by South African Police (SAPS) as attempted murder.

All three victims had signed up for a month long £3,750 Photography and Wildlife Conservation Course with African Impact, who organise volunteer internships throughout Africa.

The three balaclava-wearing gunmen stole their luggage, camera equipment and laptops worth thousands of pounds, along with mobile phones, cash, valuables and jewellery.

Fortunately they did not sexually assault the students but left them distraught and in tears, with two girls bleeding from their bullet wounds, whilst stranded on a dirt track in the dark.

The uninjured volunteer from the USA took the wheel of the Suzuki and drove to find help. She stopped at the Timrite Yaverland sawmill just outside White River when she saw security guards.

Emergency ER24 paramedics were called to the scene and the two victims with gunshot wounds were stabilised, and all three were treated for cuts from the flying glass caused by the bullets.

All were also treated for shock and taken to the Nelspruit Mediclinic at Mbombela. It is believed the two students who were shot have now returned home to Holland and England.

The other two victims are both in their early 20s. One of them, who studies biology, has previously worked as a volunteer with animals in conservation abroad.

South African Police confirmed “numerous” shots were fired at the girls and ER24 paramedics were called to the Timrite Sawmills to treat two of the traumatised tourists for bullet wounds.

They were close to farming town White River in Mpumalanga Province, near where German tourist Jorg Schnarr, 67, was shot dead driving to the Numbi Gate in October last year.

Jorg and his wife, and another German couple, were ambushed when a car swerved in front of them. When retired Human Resources Director Jorg tried to reverse he was murdered.

Three men aged between 25 and 38 have been arrested and charged with the murder.

The three girls were about 25 miles from the notorious Numbi Gate but it shuts at sunset, so it would appear they were driving to accommodation for the night outside the Kruger.

The latest attack on tourists driving to the Kruger National Park is a blow to the local Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency who are desperate to protect vital tourism.

John Meintjes of ACS Security, whose guards at Timrite Sawmills were approached by the victims shortly after they were attacked, said: “They were hysterical and had been shot at.

“They told my staff they had been robbed by three gunmen and two were shot in the leg and the other hit by glass, and the guards gave first aid while waiting for an ambulance.

“The girls were very worried the gunmen would come back again but the guards were in control; but the robbers had taken everything of value they had in their car.”

It is believed the three girls had signed up for the one-month long Photography and Wildlife Conservation internship programme which was being run by the NGO African Impact.

African Impact provides volunteers with “life changing experiences” throughout Africa.

The three volunteers would have been working under a professional photographer learning the skills of how to capture wildlife through the lens and how to edit and present it.

In January last year a South African woman driving out of the nearby Numbi Gate with her two children, after a holiday in the Kruger, came under fire from three masked gunmen.

Melani de Beer, 39, was heading home to Pretoria with her 2 children when a dozen bullets hit her vehicle and her 14-year-old daughter was shot twice in the leg but they escaped.

Model Katie Price, 45, has told how in 2018 her convoy of two cars was car-jacked by armed robbers 120 miles away from White River where the latest attack happened on tourists.

The famous mother-of-five claimed that one of the six armed robbers raped her while she was travelling from Johannesburg to Swaziland with son Junior along with a film crew.

The gang that robbed them of camera equipment, phones and jewellery was never caught.

A South African Police spokesman said the latest shootings happened at 7.30pm on June 30 last month and that a security guard at the sawmills heard at least four shots being fired.

He said:

“A Suzuki parked at the sawmill a few minutes later and 3 white females came out of the vehicle crying for help and said that they had been shot by unknown suspects.

“They took all their belongings and there were two victims who had been shot and were taken to hospital with serious injuries and it is being treated as attempted murder.

“No arrests have been made as yet of the suspects who were in a silver VW Polo.”

The Lowvelder newspaper reported that African Impact in South Africa had confirmed the incident but refused to comment further referring press calls to their UK headquarters.

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