Driver hijacks and torches school bus

Italy was in shock on Thursday after the dramatic rescue of 51 children taken hostage by their school bus driver who torched the vehicle in protest at Mediterranean migrant deaths.

The Italian driver of Senegalese origin hijacked the bus on Wednesday as it was taking the 12- and 13-year-olds from a gym to school in Crema, east of Milan.

Armed with two petrol canisters and a cigarette lighter, Ousseynou Sy threatened the youngsters, took their cellphones and then told the adults to tie them up with electric cable.

The 40-minute ordeal, during which the bus also slammed into a car, was brought to an end when police managed to smash windows open and get those on board out just as the driver set fire to the vehicle.

A dozen children and two adults were taken to hospital for smoke and fume inhalation, according to emergency services.

The driver’s lawyer said his client had wanted to draw attention to the consequences of Italy’s migration policies.

Italy has clamped down on immigration under far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini, demanding it close its ports to charity vessels rescuing migrants who are trying to cross the Mediterranean.

“This villain has to pay for everything,” Salvini, whose League Party is riding high in the polls in part because of its tough anti-migrant stance, said.

He said Sy’s citizenship could be revoked if convicted of terror under a tough security decree introduced in 2018.

The Milan police anti-terrorism unit has been charged with investigating the hostagetaking, during which Sy reportedly told pupils: “No-one is getting out of here alive”.

Police were alerted to the situation after one of the children held on the bus called them from his cellphone.

The incident has shaken Crema’s community.

The driver had no links with Islamic terrorism and had acted as a lone wolf, the head of counter terrorism at the Milan public prosecutor’s office, Alberto Nobili, said.

Nobili said on Thursday that Sy had planned the hijack over several days and wanted the whole world talking about his story.

Sy posted a video on YouTube to explain his actions and called on relatives and friends in Crema and Senegal to take action, saying: “Africa – arise”.

Sy got his Italian nationality and job in 2004 and managed to keep subsequent convictions for drunk driving and sexual assault of a minor secret from his employer, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

A neighbour told La Stampa newspaper that he was known as “Paolo”.

“That’s what we called him – his name was too complicated.

“I saw him go out every morning, he drove a bus.

“A quiet man but solitary,” she said.

Colleagues told Italian media that Sy’s separation from his Italian wife, with whom he has two teenage children, had been when his problems actually started.