The attacker, identified by the police as a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker proficient in Farsi and English, detained fourteen passengers and the driver for nearly four hours before the train was stormed and the man was shot dead.
Police shot and killed a man who was holding fifteen hostages on a train in western Switzerland, armed with an axe and a knife.
According to Swiss police, the perpetrator was a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who spoke both Farsi and English.
The individual took fourteen passengers and the train’s driver hostage for nearly four hours before the police arrived and apprehended him.
“All the hostages were safely released,” the police announced on Friday in a statement.
No insights into the assailant’s motivations were disclosed.
The incident began at approximately 6:35 pm on Thursday on a train travelling from Baulmes to Yverdon-les-Bains in the Alpine region of Vaud.
According to regional media, the assailant forced the train’s driver to stop and secure the train’s doors. He then made the driver leave his post to board fellow passengers at the Essert-sous-Champvent station.
Passengers stranded on the train alerted the police, and the area was cordoned off so police negotiators could approach the assailant, who had tied up some of the hostages, according to Radio Television Suisse (RTS), a Swiss public broadcaster.
The police stormed the train at approximately 10:15 p.m., after efforts to persuade the assailant to surrender had failed.
RTS reports that explosives were used to distract him.
A police officer used his weapon to protect the hostages and fatally shot the assailant. He charged at the intervention team with his axe, according to police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel’s statement to reporters.
At this time, there are no indications suggesting an extremist or terrorist act.
An emergency response team supported the hostages and their families as the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
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The police and the Vaud public prosecutor’s office are investigating the incident.
“Given the number of victims, fifteen hostages, and sixty police officers involved, this is an unprecedented incident,” Prosecutor General Eric Kaltenrieder told local television.
Although uncommon in Switzerland, hostage situations at banks and businesses have occurred.
Watchmakers were kidnapped and forced to open a precious metals vault in January 2022.
