Greek bus with 26 on board hijacked
By Reuters
Updated: 2004-12-15 15:38

A hijacked bus is seen on a street some 30 kilometres north of Athens December 15, 2004. Greek police forces surrounded the bus after two armed men hijacked it early Wednesday morning with 26 passengers on board on its way from northern Athens suburbs to the Greek capital. [Reuters] A police car is seen behind a hijacked bus on a street some 30 kilometres north of Athens December 15, 2004. [Reuters] Greek police elite forces walk towards a hijacked bus on a street some 30 kilometres north of Athens December 15, 2004. [Reuters]

A Greek bus with 26 people aboard was hijacked Wednesday by two armed men who demanded to be taken to Athens airport and flown to Russia, police and government officials said.

The orange-colored bus was surrounded by patrol cars and ambulances at a stop about 10 1/2 miles from the city center on Athens' eastern outskirts.

According to a government source, the two men who seized the bus were apparently Russian and were demanding a driver to take them to the airport. They were armed with at least one shotgun but also claimed to be armed with explosives.

Police said there were 26 passengers and two hijackers aboard the bus.

"Tell them to move the van from in front of us or we will blow up the bus," the man said in Greek. He had a slight accent. "Tell them to get all the police way from here. "We want to go to the airport and fly to Russia. All passengers will get off there. We haven't harmed anyone, but if the driver is delayed I said that I will strike."

Except for the demand to be taken to the airport, it was unclear why the men hijacked the bus.

Police anti-terrorist squads, which also deal with hijackings, parked a van in front of the bus to prevent it from driving away. Police negotiators were on the scene, police said.

The bus driver, a ticket collector and another passenger managed to escape.

"I stopped the bus, I opened the doors in order for the people to come out, I opened my door as well and I pulled one women out. We managed to get out a total of three people," a man identified only as the driver told state-run NET television.

Bus company president Nikos Koutsogeorgas said the hijackers were Russian and that they were demanding a car to be taken to the airport.

Police said the bus was hijacked at 5:50 a.m. when two armed men entered the bus and fired shots into the roof of the vehicle.

"I was the first at the scene and saw the driver jumping out of the bus with a tickets collector and another woman. There was a scuffle inside the bus," Nikos Balogiannis, an witness, told state-run NET television.

At least two shots had been fired at police who arrived at the scene shortly after the takeover, while several shots have been heard from inside the bus since it came to a standstill.

The bus was on a route from the town of Marathon, east of Athens, to the city center when it was hijacked just before dawn at a stop in the suburb of Geraka.

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