Some hostages freed as hijackers demand flight
A bus with 26 commuters on board was hijacked as it travelled from Marathon to Athens by two armed men, believed to be Albanians, today,
The men demanded to be taken to the Greek capital’s airport for a flight to Russia.
The driver of the bus escaped during the hijack and the vehicle was soon surrounded by armed police.
After more than five hours of the stand-off, the hijackers freed five hostages - three women and two men – on medical grounds. They reportedly then offered to free all the women on the bus if a driver took their place.
One of the hijackers told a Greek television station he wanted to go to Russia, while state-run NET television said representatives of the Russian Embassy were on the scene.
Government sources confirmed the two men were demanding that a driver take them to the airport but could not confirm they were Russian. Police called them ”foreigners.”
“We can’t say with any certainty at this time,” about their nationalities, said a government official.
According to relatives of hostages who spoke to television and radio stations, both men apparently spoke Greek.
The Albanian ambassador in Athens said the Greek government believed the men were Albanians.
There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in Greece, including many from Albania and the former Soviet Union.
Police said there were initially 26 passengers and two hijackers on the bus.
The blue bus was surrounded by police and ambulances at a stop about 10.5 miles from the city centre on the outskirts of eastern Athens.
Black-clad police special forces, some carrying armoured shields, were crouching near the bus. Snipers were on nearby rooftops and police parked a van in front of the bus to prevent it from driving away. Police negotiators were on the scene, police said.
The hijackers were armed with at least one shotgun but also claimed to be have explosives.
“Tell them to move the van from in front of us or we will blow up the bus,” the man said in Greek to Athens’ Alpha television station.
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.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said there was no confirmation the hijackers were Russian.
“As soon as one of the Greek radio stations announced that the terrorists who had seized a bus wanted to fly to Russia, the Russian Embassy in Athens immediately contacted the Greek police and are maintaining close contact with them,” Yakovenko said.
He added that “the police do not confirm the information that there might be Russian-speaking people among the terrorists insofar as they do not have any information on this account … At the same time it is know that they speak bad Greek.”
The hijacking was a first test for a Greek police force that underwent intensive training to deal with such situations during the Olympic Games. It was also the fifth time a bus has been hijacked since 1999.
The bus driver, a ticket collector and another passenger managed to escape. The driver took the bus keys with him.
“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. There are 25 people inside,” the driver said.
Police said the bus was hijacked at 5.50am (3.50am Irish time) when two armed men entered the bus and fired shots into the roof of the vehicle.
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 centre when it was hijacked just before dawn at a stop in the suburb of Geraka.
The bus stop was on a road that was renovated for the Olympic Games and used for the Marathon race, the 26.2 mile course from ancient Marathon to central Athens.
Albanian Ambassador Bashkim Zeneli said police asked for his help because they thought the hijackers were Albanian.
“I came here after I was told by Greek police that they are 99% sure the hijackers are Albanians,” he said
Hostage Stella Matara said by mobile phone that the hijackers said they would release the women in return for a driver and set free the remaining passengers once they arrived at the airport.
“They want a driver to take them to the airport. They want to go to Russia,” she said. “They don’t want money or anything else. They have guns and dynamite. I don’t know what kind. They are treating us well.”
The first hostage to be released was identified as Yiannis Bratsakos, 55. The hijackers then released three women and another man in quick succession. One of the women staggered as she walked away from the bus toward the black-clad police special forces.
