Armed former teacher surrenders

A former teacher armed with a handgun surrendered today after taking nearly two dozen people hostage in a classroom in France, police said.

The 33-year-old man surrendered after holding 23 people – 21 of them students - captive throughout the afternoon and early evening, police and local officials said.

Details of the surrender were not immediately available.

Police had cordoned off the area around the Colbert de Torcy High School in Sable-sur-Sarthe, outside Le Mans, the city famed for its 24-hour annual car race some 140 miles south-west of Paris.

Prosecutor Jean Elek informed families of students held hostage of the situation, Le Mans court officials said.

Police in Le Mans said that 18 of the hostages were students.

A school employee said the students were aged 16 to 18 and were being held in a classroom on an upper floor.

However, the employee, Bernadette Mercier, a school receptionist, said the hostage-taker said he would not harm the students.

Mercier said the 33-year-old former teacher had found no work and was very depressed.

She said he told school personnel that he did not intend to harm the students.

School officials allowed him to enter because they knew him, she said.

Sable-sur-Sarthe, where the school is located, is 27 miles from Le Mans.