國內不敢大聲報道的劫持外國人質事件

　　澳大利亞外交部說，近日（2008年3月4日）有十名澳大利亞人在中國被歹徒拘為人質。

　　澳廣報導，昨天一輛旅遊車上的十名澳大利亞人在中國西部的西安市遭到一名中國男子的綁架。他們當中的九人早就獲釋，當時隻有一名來自新南威爾士州的四十八歲婦女仍在綁架者手中。

　　據報這名攜帶爆炸物的男子要求一輛汽車將他和他的人質送往機場。中國警察在靠近一個公路收費站的地方開槍擊斃了這名綁架人質的男子。

　　現在所有澳大利亞人都已獲得安全。他們經上海，在那裏會見澳大利亞政府官員。

　　澳大利亞外長史密斯說，他很欣慰情況很快得到解決，人質也多安然無恙。

　　這場對峙持續了大約兩個小時，發生在陝西省西安市的市中心。西安是中國一個熱門旅遊景點，附近有舉世聞名的守護中國曆史上第一位皇帝的陵寢的數以千計真人大小兵馬俑的遺址。

　　最新消息，十名澳大利亞人已經安全返回澳洲，為了不使事態擴大，他們從側門離開機場，躲開守候的記者人群。中國對此事件沒有大聲報道。



Chinese hijacker sorry for attack

 
Adam Gartrell
March 8, 2008

ONE of the 10 Australian women caught up in a hostage crisis in China says their attacker told them he was sorry.

The group was on board a tour bus in the city of Xi'an — home of the famous Terracotta Warriors, in central China — when the Chinese man hijacked the vehicle on Wednesday.

Taryn Trautsch, 20, yesterday said the hijacker sat down near the front of the bus and lowered the left side of his jacket to reveal a bomb.

"I remember looking down at my engagement ring and thinking, 'I am way too young, I am way too young, I have so much life ahead of me, I have family back here that love me'," Ms Trautsch told the Seven Network.

"When he was sitting down on the seat he did turn around to the back of us and the only English he said was 'I'm sorry'."

Ms Trautsch, an up-and-coming country music performer, then sent what she thought would be a final text message to her fiance, Paul Skinner.

"I said, 'This isn't a joke when I say this, but there is a man on our bus, he has a bomb strapped to him, I want you to know I love you'," Ms Trautsch said.

She said she had spoken at length with the 48-year-old NSW woman whom the hijacker held captive for several hours before Chinese police shot him dead.

"She said blood kind of went on her jeans and then someone jumped on this side over her and, just to make sure he was dead, shot him again."

Earlier yesterday, members of the all-female group were escorted by Australian Federal Police officers after landing at Melbourne and Sydney airports.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said the women were shepherded away from reporters so they could talk about their experiences with authorities.

After the hostage crisis, the women were flown to Shanghai, where they were cared for by Australian consular officials, before boarding a China Eastern airways flight to Australia.

Among the three women arriving in Melbourne yesterday morning was Rhiannon Dunkley, 22, from Corowa, on the Victorian-NSW border.

The group, all travel agents, was halfway through a familiarisation tour of China, run by China Bestours, a Sydney-based subsidiary of China Travel Service.

Their attacker, Xia Tao, was a recently laid-off worker from the city's aerospace industry.

Mr Xia, in his mid 30s, used about $10,000 of his redundancy money to buy a car to start an illegal taxi service. He was nearly bankrupted after police constantly fined him for driving unlicensed.

AAP