Bus hijacker neutralised by police in Brazil

A hijacker was “neutralised” by police in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday after he held a busload of passengers hostage for several hours on a major bridge in peak-hour traffic.

Dozens of people were trapped on the public bus on a heavily transited bridge connecting Rio with the neighboring city of Niteroi after it was commandeered by the man, who also carried gasoline.

Around 31 people were stuck on the vehicle throughout the terrifying, four-hour ordeal, but no one was hurt, police said.

A spokesman for the military police, Col Mauro Fliess, told a local TV programme that the sniper opened fire when the hijacker appeared at the door of the bus pointing what looked like a weapon at the head of one of the hostages.

Police had surrounded the bus which came to a standstill on a bridge linking Rio with Niterói.

None of the hostages were injured, police said.

Col Fliess told TV programme Bom Dia Rio said the weapon the man was carrying turned out to be a toy gun.

Col Fliess praised the force. "This is the police force we want to see. The sniper shot was necessary to neutralise the outlaw and to save the people on the bus," the colonel said.

Brazilian media said it was not clear if he had made any demands. He reportedly boarded the bus at 05:30 (0830 GMT) and threatened passengers.

He reportedly told the passengers he was a military police officer. Col Fliess said it had not yet been confirmed if he was an officer or just claimed to be.