Italy driver hijacks, torches school bus carrying dozens of children

Picture by the Italian fire and rescue service shows the burned out wreckage of a school bus after police rescued some 50 children when their driver torched the vehicle.

Italian police on Wednesday rescued 51 children taken hostage by their school bus driver, who doused the vehicle in petrol and set it alight apparently in protest at migrant deaths in the Mediterranean.

Some of the children were tied up during the 30-minute ordeal, which saw the bus slam into a car but was brought to an end by police after one of the children was able to call for help. No one was seriously injured.