Police in South Wales are dealing with a “serious” incident involving “a number of casualties” in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
The incident happened in Baglan Street, Treorchy, at around noon and ambulance crews are also in attendance, South Wales Police said.
A cordon has been erected around a takeaway restaurant called the Blue Sky on Baglan Street in the village of Ynyswen, with a small white tent outside the premises.
John Belgrove, a builder, who lives on Baglan Street, said he was in his shed when his barking dogs alerted him to emergency services just after midday.
He told the PA news agency: “I came out and I counted over the next half an hour about 31 different emergency vehicles. I saw what looked like a Chinese lady, probably in her 20s, crying uncontrollably and she had blood on her front.
“There was one elderly Chinese man who was walking wounded with his head all bandaged up and they put him in the back of an ambulance.”
He said another younger man was being treated by paramedics.
South Wales Police said the street has been closed off and people are advised to avoid the area until further notice.
First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford tweeted that news of the incident was “deeply concerning”.
He said: “I’m being kept informed of developments and my thoughts are with everyone in the community during this worrying time.”
Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda, tweeted that he is aware of “disturbing events on Baglan Street” and said his thoughts go out to all those affected.
A spokesman for the Welsh Ambulance Service said they had sent one rapid response vehicle, three emergency ambulances, the hazardous area response team and the Wales Air Ambulance to the scene.
In a statement, South Wales Police said: “Police units are currently dealing with a serious incident which occurred in Baglan Street, Treorchy, at approximately midday today.
“Ambulance crews are also in attendance as the incident involves a number of casualties.
“The street has been closed off and people are advised to avoid the area until further notice.
“Updates will be released when they are available.
“Anybody who may have witnessed the incident is urged to contact 101 immediately and give reference *077519.”
One neighbour said she saw “quite a few police cars” arrive in the area and knew it must be “something serious”.
Mavis Wakeford, 79, told the PA news agency: “It’s quiet, nothing like this has ever happened. I’ve lived here all my life and nothing like this has ever happened before.”
She added: “It’s something serious, obviously, it’s got to be, hasn’t it?”
Councillor Andrew Morgan, the leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, said he had been informed of “the major incident in Ynyswen” and thanked the emergency services for the “significant attendance which is ongoing”.
He added: “My thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident but please avoid the area until emergency services leave the location.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here