Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-11-04

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists released (lead-all)

[02] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists released

[03] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists (updates, Greek PM)

[04] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists (lead all)

[01] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists released (lead-all)

Thirty-two elderly Japanese tourists and another three people held by a distraught gunman aboard a coach were released unharmed at around 6:50 p.m. local time off the Corinth-Athens highway when the suspect surrendered to a high-profile local broadcast journalist.

The gunman, Christos Kentiras, 48, was taken into custody in the Piraeus district after police transported TV host Makis Triantafyllopoulos to the parked coach for negotiations. After a few minutes Triantafyllopoulos was shown on television escorting the 48-year-old hijacker to police.

[02] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists released

All 32 Japanese tourists held by a gunman aboard a coach were released unharmed at around 6:50 p.m. local time on the Corinth-Athens highway.

[03] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists (updates, Greek PM)

Police continued to shadow a hijacked coach carrying 32 Japanese tourists back towards Athens on Saturday afternoon after a lone gunman once again changed direction during the almost 10-hour odyssey being played out on a major southern Greece highway.

At around 5:30 p.m. (local time) the hijacked coach was travelling north of the Corinth canal, roughly 80 kilometres west of Athens, as police evacuated both sides of the major coastal highway connecting the Peloponnese province with Athens. Reporters are also being kept at least two kilometres from the moving vehicle. A Japanese guide, the Greek driver and another local guide were also aboard the coach, making for a total of 35 hostages.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis was briefed over the situation in the afternoon before announcing that authorities have been instructed to concentrate on the well being of the hostages. ?We trust that the result of the police forces actions will be positive and coming forth very soon,? the premier, who is on a tour of the Greek province of Epirus, said.

The suspect, a 48-year-old body shop mechanic, gunned down his elderly mother-in-law and another man on Saturday morning because he reportedly blamed them for his marital problems.

(hkt)

[04] Bus - Hijacking - Japanese tourists (lead all)

(corrects suspects name, new lead, adds update)

A hostage situation is continuing aboard a speeding tourist coach in southern Greece on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. local time), as a lone gunman remains in control of a bus carrying 33 Japanese tourists.

In Athens, an official at the Japanese embassy told the ANA that the names of the tourists have been ascertained by Greek authorities, while their relatives are being notified by the foreign ministry in Tokyo. Additionally, a diplomat from the embassy in Athens was also headed to the scene.

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