A deadly drama on board a bus in the mountains of southern Norway Monday evening left three persons dead, after a man described as desperate and wielding a knife hijacked the bus between Årdal and Tyin. Police confirmed around 7:30pm that three persons were killed and they had the assailant in custody.
The bus belonging to the Valdresekpressen line had been traveling on a regularly scheduled route over County Highway 53 when police first got a report around 5:30pm of trouble on board. Other motorists stopped on the mountain road to offer assistance in what they thought was a traffic accident, but soon saw what they called a desperate man on board the bus who was threatening passengers and themselves.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that several persons were injured and later that three persons were dead. There were few passengers on board the bus and both NRK and website vg.no reported that the assailant killed everyone on board.
Norways search and rescue service sent a Sea King helicopter to the site while local police in the county of Sogn og Fjordane requested assistance from police in Valdres. A patrol car was sent from Vang and state police commando forces in Oslo were also notified, but they were held back when reports came in that local police already had the assailant under arrest.
Details were sketchy, but police reported he was a man in his 50s, not ethnic Norwegian, who was captured by firefighters who were the first to arrive on the scene. They turned him over to health care personnel who took him to a local hospital for treatment of lacerations. It was unclear how many passengers were on board the bus, whether those killed had any relation to the 50-year-old or were random victims.
Three killed in mountain hijacking
A man wielding a knife has hijacked a bus in western Norway and killed three passengers, media reports say.
The suspect, said to be in his 50s and of foreign origin, has been arrested, police told Norway's TV2 news channel.
BBC News - 'Three killed' in Norway bus hijack
The bus belonging to the Valdresekpressen line had been traveling on a regularly scheduled route over County Highway 53 when police first got a report around 5:30pm of trouble on board. Other motorists stopped on the mountain road to offer assistance in what they thought was a traffic accident, but soon saw what they called a desperate man on board the bus who was threatening passengers and themselves.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that several persons were injured and later that three persons were dead. There were few passengers on board the bus and both NRK and website vg.no reported that the assailant killed everyone on board.
Norways search and rescue service sent a Sea King helicopter to the site while local police in the county of Sogn og Fjordane requested assistance from police in Valdres. A patrol car was sent from Vang and state police commando forces in Oslo were also notified, but they were held back when reports came in that local police already had the assailant under arrest.
Details were sketchy, but police reported he was a man in his 50s, not ethnic Norwegian, who was captured by firefighters who were the first to arrive on the scene. They turned him over to health care personnel who took him to a local hospital for treatment of lacerations. It was unclear how many passengers were on board the bus, whether those killed had any relation to the 50-year-old or were random victims.
Three killed in mountain hijacking
A man wielding a knife has hijacked a bus in western Norway and killed three passengers, media reports say.
The suspect, said to be in his 50s and of foreign origin, has been arrested, police told Norway's TV2 news channel.
BBC News - 'Three killed' in Norway bus hijack
