Police kill axe-wielding man who took 15 passengers hostage on train in Switzerland
The train was stopped at the town of Essert-sous-Champvert
A man who used an axe and knife to seize more than a dozen hostages on a Swiss train has been killed, police said.
Swiss police say a 32-year-old Iranian asylum-seeker was killed and no passengers were injured.
The man took the hostages early Thursday evening and police, alerted by passengers, sealed off the area while the train was stopped in the town of Essert-sous-Champvert, police in the French-speaking Vaud region said Friday.
The man, speaking Farsi and English, demanded that the train engineer join the 15 hostages.
Nearly four hours after the incident began, police stormed the train after trying to negotiate with the man through an interpreter.
More than 60 police were involved.
“The hostages were all freed safe and sound,” a police statement said. “The hostage-taker was mortally injured during the operation.”
Vincent Derouand, a spokesperson for the Vaud prosecutors' office, said an investigation was underway in part to determine the man’s motive.
Essert-sous-Champvert is in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is near the French border and north of Geneva.
Jean-Christophe Sauterel, police spokesperson for the Vaud canton, said there was no indication that the hostage taking was a terrorist incident.
“It’s an unprecedented event given the number of victims, 15 hostages, and the intervention of 60 police,” Prosecutor General Eric Kaltenrieder told local television.
Hostage situations are rare in Switzerland but have occurred at banks and businesses. In January 2022, employees of a watch making firm were taken hostage and forced to open a vault containing precious metals.