Hours of negotiations
Hostage taking in Switzerland: Police shoot perpetrator on train
The hostage-taking took place on the railway line between Baulmes and Yverdon-les-Bains in French-speaking western Switzerland
© Laurent Gillieron/KEYSTONE / DPA
Hostage-taking in the evening rush hour: What began as a routine trip for a number of people ended violently. An armed man threatened passengers and the train driver for hours on a train in Switzerland.
A hostage situation with a fatal outcome took place during the night Switzerland happened. Armed with a knife and an ax, a man threatened 14 passengers and the train driver on a regional train. The perpetrator took the people hostage and held them for almost four hours.
After a police operation around 10:15 p.m., people were able to leave the train unharmed, but the perpetrator was shot, as Attorney General Eric Kaltenrieder said at a press conference that night. The hostage taker was a 32-year-old asylum seeker of Iranian nationality. The motive for his crime is still unclear.
Those affected had alerted the police from the train on the line between Baulmes and Yverdon-les-Bains in French-speaking western Switzerland. More than 60 officers surrounded the train, which had come to a stop with the doors locked at the Essert-sous-Champvent stop, the police said.
Negotiations during the hostage situation in Switzerland with an interpreter
An interpreter was brought in to negotiate with the hostage taker – sometimes via Whatsapp. The police did not say what the man wanted.
The emergency services finally took advantage of an opportunity when the perpetrator briefly moved away from the hostages to intervene. Explosives were used to distract him.
The man then charged at a police officer with the ax, who then fired. The attacker died on the spot.
Read at stern+: The whole country is celebrating. A man is out and about in a small town. Something inexplicable drives him.