A bus carrying 51 schoolchildren has allegedly been hijacked by its driver and set alight near Milan in Italy.
The children, some of them tied up, were rescued throughsmashed windows at the back of the bus and no-one was badly hurt. Fourteenpeople suffered smoke inhalation, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
The driver, a 47-year-old Italian citizen originally fromSenegal, was arrested.
“No-one will survive,” the driver was alleged to havesaid.
“It was a miracle, it could have been a massacre,”Milan chief prosecutor Francesco Greco was quoted as saying.
A teacher who had been on board the bus said the suspect wasknown to be angry about Italy’s migrant policy. Some reports said the man hadshouted “stop the deaths in the Mediterranean”.
According to reports, two classes of teenagers and theiradult escort were being driven from a school in Vailati di Crema to a gym buttook a different route on a provincial highway apparently heading for Milan’sLinate airport.
The ordeal then unfolded over the next 40 minutes.
When the suspect allegedly began addressing the passengerswith a knife, a boy phoned a parent, who alerted the police.
It took some time before police tried to intercept the bus.The vehicle rammed into police cars before slowing down.
Italian reports said petrol had been sprinkled around the bus but police were able to smash the rear windows and let the passengers off before it burst into flames.