Hostages unharmed as bus hijackers surrender

The six remaining hostages from the hijacked commuter bus in Athens have been released.

Both armed hijackers, who threatened to kill the captives and blow the bus up, have surrendered.

The two men, believed to be Albanians, exited the bus with their hands on the heads after throwing two shotguns out of the driver’s door.

The hostages left the bus from the same door. Once free, relatives who were waiting in a nearby supermarket ran up and hugged them.

Heavily-armed police then searched the vehicle. It remains unclear whether they actually had explosives.

The hostage drama ended after hijackers had gradually released passengers during the dramatic 18 hour stand-off.

At one point, one of the men threatened to blow up the bus if authorities did not deliver a ransom of around €1m by dawn tomorrow.

The hijackers were armed with two pump action shotguns, which they used to fire shots from a bus window.

They seized control of the intercity bus at 5.50am local time (3.50am GMT) today at a bus stop in the Athens suburb of Geraka, about 10 miles east of the city centre. The bus was on its way from the town of Marathon, east of Athens, to the city centre.

The bus driver, a ticket inspector and a passenger escaped almost immediately.

Police have praised the driver’s quick action, which immobilised the bus and gave authorities control over the situation.

The hijackers initially demanded a new bus driver, saying they wanted to be taken to the airport and flown to Russia.

They initially claimed to be Russian, but sources in the Athens prosecutor’s office said both men were Albanians with criminal records in Greece.

They began releasing the 26 hostages in the early afternoon. Some looked dazed as they staggered off the bus. One woman limped towards the black-clad anti-terrorist officers, who waived her to safety.

Greek Premier Costas Caramanlis delayed a trip to a European Union summit in Brussels to deal with the crisis, his spokesman said. A planned demonstration by Greece’s main workers union to protest at the rising cost of living was also postponed.

It was the fifth time a bus has been hijacked in Greece since 1999.