Hostages situation in Greece: Training and Practice Saves Lives

December 15-16, 2004 Athens Greece—

The hijacking of a Greek city bus lasted over 19 hours as two Albanians brandishing guns and claiming to have explosives took over a bus full of Greeks on their way to work. Shots were fired in the roof of the bus. But this story has a happy ending…

In preparation for the Olympics the bus driver had received anti-terrorism training for civilians. In the first minutes of the situation he grabbed the keys, activated a secret kill switch, preventing the engine from operating, and escaped.

On Thursday morning after successful negotiations, all the hostages were released and the gunmen surrendered.

No one was hurt and the gunmen arrested. The success of this situation has been credited to the training and excellent crisis management skills of the bus driver and the Greek emergency responders.