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borgslayer
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 Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:10 pm Athens Bus HiJacking |
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More Athens bus hostages freed
Gunmen demand $1.34 million ransom, plane to fly to Russia
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 Posted: 1:07 PM EST (1807 GMT)
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Hijackers have released 16 hostages from a commuter bus, hours after seizing the vehicle with about 24 passengers on board while it traveled in an Athens suburb, according to police.
The two gunmen -- believed to be Albanian -- are strapped with explosives and have fired on police at least four times during the standoff, police said Wednesday.
CNN's Alessio Vinci says they are demanding a ransom of 1 million euros ($1.34 million) plus a driver to take them to Athens airport and a plane to take them to Russia.
It was unclear how many men and how many women were among the latest hostages freed.
The first hostage to be freed, a 55-year-old man said to be suffering a heart condition, was released at 11 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) for what were described "as medical reasons."
A short time later, three women and a man departed the bus, separately. Another man and a woman left the bus shortly before 3 p.m. (8 a.m. ET), police said. Three more hostages were released before 5 p.m. (10 a.m. ET), and another two soon after that.
Some of the hostages reported that the hijackers were treating their captives well, and even served them croissants and water.
Journalist Anthee Carassavas told CNN that police were taking their release as a positive sign as they tried desperately to defuse the situation in intense negotiations.
She said it was unclear whether the hostage-takers were acting independently or were part of an organization -- or if they had more detailed demands beyond their wish to be flown to Russia.
Carassavas says authorities have told CNN they believe the two men -- who say they are Russian -- are Albanian. The Albanian ambassador to Greece is on the scene, she said, and Greece's public order minister has made at least two calls to his Albanian counterpart.
Hundreds of thousands of Albanians live in Greece, many of them having arrived to help with construction work for last August's Athens Olympics.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis postponed his departure to Brussels for a key EU summit Wednesday because of the crisis and now plans to leave Thursday, senior government officials said.
Special forces, including snipers, hostage negotiators and anti-terrorism squads, continued to surround the blue-colored bus in the Athens suburb of Marathon Wednesday afternoon, while a police helicopter hovered overhead.
The bus -- which was heading from Marathon to Athens -- was seized at about 6 a.m. Wednesday (11 p.m. ET Tuesday), and was later parked alongside a road about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the city center.
It was the first such incident since a spate of bus hijackings in Greece five years ago. (Recent Greek hijackings)
"I talked with one of the passengers on the bus over her mobile phone and she told me the gunmen want a new driver to take them straight to the airport so they can leave the country," Nikos Koutsogiorgos, head of the company that owns the bus, told reporters.
Police told news agencies the armed men entered the bus and fired shots into the roof of the vehicle.
A senior police official said authorities were still trying to confirm the hijackers' identities.
One of the hijackers telephoned a private radio station, identified himself as "Hassan" -- speaking in Russian -- and insisted police meet their demands or else they would take drastic action.
Driver raised alert
About an hour and an half after the bus was seized, gunshots were heard, although it was not clear if they came from inside or outside the bus.
The gunmen boarded the bus on its third or fourth stop as it headed toward Athens from Marathon.
When they flashed their rifles, the bus driver immediately stopped the coach and opened the doors, hoping to allow the passengers to escape. The driver, his co-driver and a female passenger were able to get away safely and alert police.
"I was the first at the scene and saw the driver jumping out of the bus with a ticket collector and another woman. There was a scuffle inside the bus," eyewitness Nikos Balogiannis told state-run NET television, according to The Associated Press.
The hostage-takers drew the curtains, preventing anyone from seeing inside the bus.
"I don't care what they are or who they are. I want them to release my wife," an elderly man who was among dozens of relatives of hostages who rushed to the scene told Reuters. "She told me she is fine and things are quiet on the bus but she sounded terrified."
There were no reports of any injuries, but live television pictures earlier showed one of the gunmen approaching the front of the bus and firing off two warning shots.
Police anti-terrorist squads, which also deal with hijackings, parked a van in front of the bus to prevent it from driving away.
Release of hostages
The first male hostage released walked casually off the bus after being freed.
The man, with graying hair, quickly raised his arms as he walked off the bus, hopped a fence, and left the scene. Moments later, he was escorted into a vehicle and driven away.
"My Dad has a heart condition," Vassilis Bratsiakos told Reuters. "I am just happy he is well and far away from the bus."
Minutes later three female hostages -- all younger woman -- and a man were also freed.
One of the woman, wearing a yellow jacket, was limping. She walked hesitantly from the bus and appeared to be distressed.
Journalists Elisabeth Filippoulis and Anthee Carassavas contributed to this report
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http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/15/greece.hostages/index.html
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