Tuk tuks to the rescue in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: A bright yellow three-wheeled tuk tuk careens out of the rioting crowd with gunfire crackling in the air and black smoke swirling up into the horizon. Volunteers in red tabards hoist an injured protester out of the back of the cart and carry him into a waiting ambulance. It’s a chaotic rescue, Baghdad style, during a week-long uprising that has turned streets of Iraq’s capital into a battlefield. Protesters say that with crowds packed tightly into the streets, ambulances either can’t reach the victims or become targets themselves for snipers. So tuk tuk drivers, who normally make their living weaving through traffic, have stepped into the breach, plunging headlong down streets to pick up people in harm. — Reuters