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Ambulance driver said 'let the refugee jump': witness

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Ambulance driver said 'let the refugee jump': witness

Emergency workers in eastern Sweden have come under fire after they reportedly refused to drive a 16-year-old refugee to hospital when he jumped out of a second-storey window.

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The teenage boy was sitting on the ledge of an open window six metres above ground and threatening to jump from a building in Gävle, eastern Sweden.

Police, ambulance, and emergency staff rushed to the scene, but not everyone was so keen to help, according to witnesses.

"One of the ambulance guys went around talking to both the emergency services and the police officers and said things about how it was just as good to let him jump, that it made no difference as he was just a refugee," a witness told the Arbetarbladet newspaper about the incident, which took place two months ago.

The boy finally jumped, landing on an inflatable safety pad provided by the rescue team.

But instead of rushing to help the boy into an ambulance, the emergency medical technicians instead opted to stand by and watch.

"Reporting that the ambulance staff refuse to load him in!!!!" read a police transcript of the incident.

An officer on hand was stunned at how the ambulance driver's behaviour.

"We were completely taken aback," he told the paper.

"As a result, the police had to take him to the emergency ward."

The ambulance staff members explained that they did not consider the boy to be in need of the hospital's services.

The teenager had no visible injuries after he jumped, but was severely chilled due to being exposed to the cold winter air for over an hour while sitting in the window.

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