Teen Hijackers Of Bus Free Kids, Surrender After Standoff In B.C.

A school-bus hijacking near Osoyoos in southern British Columbia ended peacefully this morning when two armed teenagers were taken into custody.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police negotiators talked the two into releasing the six children and the bus driver some 20 miles east of Osoyoos on Highway 3, just north of the U.S. border, the RCMP said.

"Everyone's fine. They released the hostages and then gave themselves up," according to Sgt. Laurie Dewitt, of the RCMP station in Kelowna, B.C.

The two abductors, both described as 10th-graders, were armed with a knife and a gun, Dewitt said.

The teenagers took over the bus about 8:30 a.m. somewhere in the Osoyoos vicinity and demanded to be taken to Ontario, according to The Associated Press.

Dewitt reported that the bus traveled 50 to 60 miles east of Osoyoos on Highway 3 but then turned around and headed back west, where it eventually was stopped after being followed by RCMP troopers. "We had police cars on either side and the bus just finally stopped," he said.

The bus turned around because the abductors wanted to get in range so they could use the bus' radio to contact the school district's bus headquarters, presumably to talk to someone there, Dewitt said. It is unclear why the abductors thought that was necessary.

The students on the bus were four boys and two girls, ages 10 to 13. They were being taken back to Osoyoos to be reunited with their parents, police said.

There apparently were only a few students on the full-sized school bus because the driver had just started its route, Dewitt said. Material from Reuters is included in this report.