Malaga bus driver receives bravery award after hijack attempt by man with knife

He doesn’t want his identity known because he is too modest and also because he fears reprisals, but Malaga council has just officially recognised the bravery shown by a driver with the EMT bus company who was threatened by a man armed with a 70-cm knife and held him off until the police arrived.

As well as the ceremony at Malaga city hall, the bus company has also given him two days off, a two-night stay at a destination in Andalucía and a plaque to commemorate his bravery. He has also been moved to work on a different bus route as a precautionary measure, because the man who was arrested has been released on bail.

The incident took place on Saturday 9 April. Earlier, the man had threatened passers-by, tried to hijack a taxi and stolen two cars, one of which he crashed. He then got onto the bus at a stop on Line 17 in La Palmilla district. He produced a 70-centimetre-long knife and threatened the driver with it, instructing him to drive to Seville, and hitting the protective screen with the weapon. The passengers on board – about a dozen – who were scared for their lives, tried to take refuge in the back of the vehicle.

The weapon. / SUR

At that time many of the National and Local Police were already trying to locate the man, because the emergency services had received so many calls about his actions.

The driver kept calm and kept his wits around him. He told the man that he would take him to Seville, and started driving driving extremely slowly in the direction of La Virreina. When he reached Avenida Jane Bowles, he saw that a police car had arrived behind the bus. He then opened the automatic doors, which enabled the passengers to leave the vehicle, and the police officers boarded the vehicle and arrested the man.