Six people were killed and 16 injured after a 24-year-old man drove a car onto the Main Market Square in Kraków on Saturday and opened fire on random passers-by.
Trauma surgeon Dr. Mateusz Wierdak said it was a mass-casualty incident that was particularly difficult because it took place at several locations at the same time. In his view, given the complexity of the rescue operation and the number of victims, all emergency services had performed "exemplary work."
“There was fear, but in our work, we operate under stress, so we somehow manage to deal with it,” Wierdak added.
Wierdak and Prof. Michał Pędziwiatr, also a surgeon, were at the scene. Pędziwiatr was at a nearby restaurant with his family. Both said they went to help the injured after hearing gunshots.
The doctors described medical staff who gave up their free time and came in for additional shifts as the “quiet heroes.”
Pędziwiatr said the number of surgical teams available at hospitals in Kraków exceeded the number of victims brought in, meaning hospitals were prepared to receive more injured people if necessary.
The surgeons said they provided first aid alongside police officers and passers-by, using, among other things, first-aid kits supplied by officers from police vehicles.
When one of the doctors identified himself as a trauma surgeon, police asked him to coordinate medical activities while officers focused on securing the area.
Wierdak said there was some confusion because some passers-by reported seeing two attackers, while others said there were more.
The doctors said they had not seen the masked, hooded attacker and focused on treating the injured rather than pursuing the gunman.
Wierdak said the doctors' response was guided by their training. In the case of a gunshot victim, the first priority is to identify the source of the bleeding and stop it, followed by protecting the patient against hypothermia, he told reporters.
Police found the bodies of three members of the attacker's immediate family at the family's apartment in the southeastern town of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
The Kraków attack and the killings in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski are being investigated jointly.
Kraków police said on X on Monday that the perpetrator of the attack had died in hospital early on Monday morning.
(sp)
Source: PAP