M A I N   N E W S

Hijackers demand to be flown to Russia

A hostage raises his arms after he is released from a hijacked bus (R) at Gerakas suburb, some 25 km north of Athens, on wednesday.  — Reuters photo

Gerakas, December 15
A bus with 25 persons on board was hijacked early today in an Athens suburb by two armed men demanding to be flown back to Russia, police and government officials said.

The two men, armed with rifles, boarded the bus in the early hours, firing shots into its roof and halting the vehicle on a thoroughfare in the suburb of Gerakas, where the police surrounded it, a government spokesman said.

About six hours after the drama unfolded, the hijackers released two men and three women who were seen leaving the bus from the driver’s side. One of the freed hostages, identified as Yannis Bratsiakos (55), was said to suffer from heart problems and the second man could be seen limping.

The police said 20 hostages remained on the bus. Authorities had initially said that a total 26 persons were taken hostage when two armed men stormed the bus at 5:45 am.

The private radio station Alpha said someone claiming to be one of the hostage-takers had called it via a mobile phone taken from a woman passenger on the bus.

The caller, who said his name was Hassan, spoke fluent Greek with a slight accent and demanded that the police move away from the vehicle so that it could be driven to the airport, located about 15 km away, the radio said.

A police official, who asked not to be named, said the men were Russians and wanted to fly back to their country.

He added further they were demanding that a driver board the bus to drive it to the airport.

The bus driver and ticket collector, one woman passenger, had managed to escape from the vehicle when the hijacking took place.

“I stopped the bus and opened the doors in order for the people to come, I opened my door as well and I pulled one woman out. Three of us managed to get out,” a man identified as the bus driver told the state-run NET television.

Bus company president Nikos Koutsogiorgas said no one had been injured and the police negotiators were talking with the hostage-takers to try to end the drama. It was unclear what motivated the two men to hijack the bus.

The police said they had provided the men with a mobile telephone to maintain contact.

One of the hostages reached on his mobile phone by a local media and said the hijackers had a sawn-off shotgun, a pistol and a bag filled with grenades.

The hostage takers had drawn the curtains and were occasionally firing in the air from its windows.

The bus was running a night service from the city of Marathon to Athens.

The area was cordoned off by the police, while snipers and special forces surrounded the vehicle and ambulances stood by.

Earlier reports quoted the bus driver as saying the hostage-takers appeared to be Albanians.

The incident marked the fourth such hostage-taking in Greece in the past five years. In May and July 1999, two similar incidents took place with the Albanian hostage-takers at the time demanding money and to be returned to their country. — AFP

Bus hijackers demand $ 1m as ransom

Athens, December 15
Two gunmen who hijacked a bus carrying 26 passengers in an Athens suburb today have asked for $ 1 million and a plane to leave the country, a senior police source said.

The source said in negotiations with the police, the hijackers demanded the ransom but did not specify where they wanted to fly to. Five of the hostages have been released. — Reuters