A hostage crisis that held Brazil in suspense for three hours on Tuesday ended with the release of 17 bus passengers sequestered in Rio de Janeiro’s bus station by a kidnapper who surrendered to security forces. order, after injuring two people by bullets. “The hostage taker has surrendered, he has been arrested, all the hostages have been released, they are safe,” Marco Andrade, a colonel in the military police, told journalists, without giving details of the motivations of the hostage. abductor.
The hostages, including children and elderly people, are safe and sound but two people were shot and injured by the kidnapper “outside” the bus, he said earlier. Hit by three shots in the chest and abdomen, a 34-year-old man is in serious condition and had to undergo emergency surgery, explained Daniel Soranz, head of municipal health services. The other victim was less seriously injured. “Exemplary action by the security forces of Rio de Janeiro,” greeted the governor of the state of Rio, Claudio Castro, on the X network.
The hostage-taking began around 3:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT) in this large bus station in the center of Rio, from where coaches depart serving many regions of Brazil. Major local media followed it live. The GloboNews channel showed images of the freed hostages exiting a blue bus, looking frightened, including a young woman carrying a baby in her arms. Other footage showed the moment the kidnapper, dressed in green Bermuda shorts and a pink t-shirt, was placed in the back of a police van by officers.
Tragic episode in 2000
The greatest confusion reigned after the start of the hostage-taking during the evacuation of the site, through which 38,000 passengers pass every day, according to the station’s official website. “A man drew a gun, started shooting and entered the bus. I have two friends on this bus, everyone is desperate, we don’t know what will happen,” a witness told the GloboNews microphone. The police later claimed that the bus station had been completely evacuated and an AFP journalist noted that there was no one inside, with passengers who had to cancel their trips being massed at the outside.
In 2000, a hostage-taking of bus passengers in a residential area left two people dead. The episode was broadcast for hours live on television, causing immense excitement, and inspired a film, “Parada 174”. More recently, in 2019, a man was killed by police after holding around thirty bus passengers hostage on the huge bridge linking Rio de Janeiro to the town of Niteroi, a nerve center of traffic in the region. .