As of: February 9, 2024, 9:50 p.m
By: Julian Mayr
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In the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, a hostage-taking took place on a regional train in the early evening of February 8th.
© Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
An armed man (32) holds 15 people on a train in Switzerland.
After four hours, the police end the hostage-taking thanks to a diversionary tactic.
Essert-sous-Champvent – In the Swiss canton of Vaud there was a hostage-taking on a regional train in the early evening of February 8th.
A 32-year-old man is said to have taken 14 passengers and the train driver hostage around 6:30 p.m. near Essert-sous-Champvent - armed with an ax and a knife.
After around four hours, the hostage taker was killed by the police.
Hostage-taking on a Swiss regional train: Armed man (32) from Iran held 15 passengers
The train came to a stop in Essert-sous-Champvent, a small village between Yverdon-les-Bains and Sainte-Croix, in western Switzerland.
In the middle of the evening rush hour, the armed man asked the train driver to leave the driver's cab and go to a total of 14 other people who were being held.
The suspected perpetrator is said to be an Iranian asylum seeker, police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel announced.
According to media reports, the 32-year-old Iranian is said to have threatened the 15 hostages with an ax and a knife.
The man is said to have spoken to the passengers in Farsi and English.
An eyewitness reports
to blick.ch
that the man was screaming and seemed stressed.
“I didn’t have the impression that he wanted to hurt people,” said the detainee.
Negotiations by the police were unsuccessful: the hostage-taking only ended after four hours with the death of the hostage-taker
The alerted police initially held negotiations with the hostage taker, who spoke, among other things, Farsi.
An interpreter was also used, reports the
AFP
news agency .
According to SRF,
the 32-year-old was
walking up and down the train accompanied by hostages.
More than 60 officers surrounded the train in the small town's train station, the cantonal police announced after the operation.
Even special forces from Geneva were there, including snipers.
Only after more than four hours in the hands of the armed Iranians does the hostage-taking for the passengers and the train driver come to an end.
A police intervention force intervened at around 10:18 p.m.
She uses an explosion on the train as a diversionary tactic to lure the hostage taker away from the held passengers.
A video circulating on Platform X shows the detonation from some distance away.
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The distraction allowed the police to place themselves between the hostage-taker and the people being held on board.
The perpetrator then attacked the police with the axe.
An officer finally fired a shot at the hostage taker, fatally wounding him.
The 15 hostages, however, remained uninjured and were able
to leave the train at 10:39 p.m., according to
blick.ch .
After fatal shot during hostage situation: investigation initiated against police officers
Nothing was initially known about the man's motive.
At a press conference, representatives of the police and prosecutors did not want to discuss whether the Gaza war might have played a role, reports
AFP
.
According to blick.ch
, a criminal investigation
was initiated against the police officer who fired the fatal shot .
It was only in January that a hostage situation in Ulm left Baden-Württemberg in suspense.