Children rescued as Italian driver hijacks and torches school bus

An Italian driver of Senegalese origin hijacks a school bus, carrying 51 children and set alight near Milan in Italy. The children were rescued through smashed windows at the back of the bus. It is reported that no children were injured badly. Fourteen people had suffered from smoke inhalation.

The driver has been arrested by the police. He said that this hijacking was done as a protest against migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. He claimed that three of his own children were lost at the sea. It is reported that the police had identified the driver as Ousseynou Sy (47), an Italian citizen.

At the time of rescuing, some of the children were found tied up. The driver was alleged to have said, “No-one will survive”.

Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco said, “It is a miracle, it could have been carnage. The police were outstanding, blocking the bus and getting the children off”.

The school bus carrying 51 students in year two of secondary school in Crema, were returning from a sports outing. The children were accompanied by by three adults. After a few time, the driver had suddenly changed the root of the bus, saying that he was taking them all hostage.

The driver then threatened the passengers, with a knife, and one among the students had called his parents. The parent had alerted the police regarding this.

“No one is getting out of here alive,” he said, according to the student’s words. Once the bus stopped, the driver jumped off and set it alight, having already doused it in petrol. The children were rescued through smashed windows at the back of the bus.

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