Volunteer rescuer tells of blast horror
Johan Schronen and Helen Bamford

Peter Kaplan drove past Mano's Restaurant in Somerset Road, Green Point, about 20 seconds before a huge explosion shattered Christmas Eve, injuring seven police.

As co-ordinator of the Table Bay volunteer ambulance service, he was on duty that night but hoping for a quiet evening.

Flying shrapnel damaged the street light, ripped holes in the pavement directly under the blue refuse bin the bomb was in, shattered plaster and ripped bricks out of the walls and steps of Mano's.

Kaplan was one of the first medics on the scene and saw two police vans pull up to the restaurant before the explosion.

"I thought they were responding to an intruder alarm. The next moment I just heard this huge bang and screams and I knew in my gut it was something to do with the police."

Kaplan said ambulance crew were met by a horrifying sight when they arrived at the scene.

Instead of holding back to check the area was safe in case of secondary devices, their medical training kicked in and they rushed to assist the casualties.

"You never know if another bomb will go off but for most of us, when you get to a scene like this, your training takes over. You learn to treat the injury, not the whole person - just to cope.

"The two women officers took the brunt of the explosion and one was especially bad. As well as a massive leg injury, she had shrapnel in her chest and massive abdominal bleeding. The other woman had shrapnel in her chest but fortunately it missed her vital organs."

Sergeant Natasha Pillay, 24, had her left leg amputated on Christmas Day and is still in intensive care.

Gauteng holidaymakers Denis Rudman and fiancee Chantal Abro were passing in their car when the bomb went off. "I knew it was something serious. The shockwaves rattled our car, even though we were moving," Rudman said.

The bomb attack, the third in two months, followed the Blah Bar blast early in November at Green Point, and the St Elmo's bombing three weeks later in Camps Bay, where 48 people were injured.

Police believe that the three attacks were linked - they all occurred on the Atlantic coast and were remotely set off by cellphones - but investigators are still no closer to the culprits than at the beginning.

Police said they had no suspects, no motive and no real pattern to point them in any direction.

Detectives of the special task team probing urban terror in the Western Cape are particularly concerned that no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which would have produced "some departure point" in the investigation.

Saleem Mowzer, chairman of the City of Cape Town's executive committee, was quick to try to dispel growing fears of a millennium bomb. "We are not going to let these faceless cowards halt or disrupt the celebrations to mark the end of an era and new beginnings.

"We are reviewing our security arrangements on a regular basis and we will continue to ensure deployment of maximum resources so that people can celebrate in safety."

Community safety MEC Mark Wiley expressed his concern about a "millennium bomb".

"But we must not panic. We must stay calm and let the security agencies to their work."

The bomb was triggered at 10.30pm on Christmas Eve shortly after Sea Point police received an anonymous call that a bomb had been planted at Mano's. The bomber apparently waited for police to arrive and when there were seven, including Sea Point police and dog unit members in two vehicles, the bomb was set off.

On Christmas morning, the pavement and road around Mano's were still stained with blood.