Dramatic scenes took place on a Swiss regional train on Thursday evening: a 32-year-old held 15 hostages for hours. The perpetrator, armed with an ax and a knife, was eventually killed in a police attack.
The train ran in the canton of Vaud between Yverdon and Sainte-Croix. Around 6:35 p.m., people trapped on the train alerted police. The area was then cordoned off.
Negotiations with Persian interpreter
The hostage taker, who spoke Persian and English, was armed with an ax and a knife, cantonal police said. With the help of a Persian interpreter, executive negotiators communicated with the perpetrator, mainly through messages on the hostages’ mobile phones, as Jean-Christophe Sauterel, head of communications for the Vaud police, explained.
According to police, the hostage-taker forced the engineer to leave the cabin and join the 14 passengers present. The fifteen hostages, some of whom were tied up, were held on the train, which stopped with closed doors at the Essert-sous-Champvent stop.
Hostage takers distracted with explosives
Meanwhile, about 60 police officers took up positions around the train. Around 10:15 p.m., almost four hours after the hostage situation began, emergency services intervened when the hostage taker was nowhere near the trapped people. Police said they used explosives as a distraction before storming the train.
Police officer draws gun “to protect hostages”
“When the hostage taker charged at the emergency team with his axe, a police officer used his weapon to protect the hostages and fatally struck the perpetrator,” Sauterel said. He died on the spot, even though a doctor was present in the police team. Police acted in self-defense, Sauterel said.
According to police, the hostages were unharmed. They received medical and psychological care and were taken to a police station where relatives were waiting for them. As part of the investigation, the hostages were also questioned by police.
The perpetrator was probably a 32-year-old asylum seeker with Iranian nationality who had been assigned to the canton of Neuchâtel. Police say his identity has yet to be confirmed. No information can be provided at the moment about possible motives or the man’s mental condition, said Attorney General Eric Kaltenrieder.
Source: Krone
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