Gumleaf
March 6th, 2008, 09:03 PM
Friday March 7, 2008
Country music singer Taryn Trautsch has described the drama of being held hostage in China by a crazed bomber with explosives strapped to his waist.
The 21-year-old Sydney woman told her father of a heroic 48-year-old woman who helped diffuse the crisis, convincing the bomber to release the other nine Australian travel agents held captive on tour a bus in China.
Ms Trautsch, who is also a travel agent, told her father Craig by telephone of her ordeal, the Daily Telegraph reports.
She said a 48-year-old woman "convinced the bomber to let some passengers leave the bus because he didn't need so many."
"When they were off the bus she convinced the bomber to let the rest go as well, saying he only needed her as a hostage," said Ms Trautsch, who was recognised at last year's Capital Country Music Association talent quest.
"It was very brave."
Another hostage, 22-year-old Rhiannon Dunkley from central NSW, told a friend that the hijacker was ranting on the bus.
"He was pacing up and down and they couldn't understand what he was saying but they knew from the look on the interpreter's face that something was wrong,'' the friend was quoted as saying.
The hijacker has been identified as Xia Tao, a retrenched aerospace industry worker plagued with debt.
Tao used a retrenchment payout to purchase a $9000 car he intended to use as a taxi, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
But police slapped him with $150 fines for operating his car without a taxi license. The fines were so crippling that he had to borrow thousands of yuan from family and friends to cover the fines, the Herald quoted Tao's neighbour as saying.
A group of travel agents were on a bus with their translator at the Bell and Drum Tower Square in the north-west city of Xi'an, famous for its Terracotta Warriors, when a Chinese national armed with explosives seized the vehicle.
A 48-year-old NSW woman and her translator were kept captive for several hours after the man released nine of the Australians who were on the bus.
A police sniper later shot and killed the armed man as he approached a toll station, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese government spokesman Qin Gang later told the 48-year-old tourist that China would work to improve its security.
"I want to express my sincere apologies to the Australian tourist who was kidnapped in this incident," Mr Gang told the ABC.
"We welcome her to come back to China to travel in the future.
"I hope that she won't feel unsafe in China because of this incident."
©AAP 2008
Country music singer Taryn Trautsch has described the drama of being held hostage in China by a crazed bomber with explosives strapped to his waist.
The 21-year-old Sydney woman told her father of a heroic 48-year-old woman who helped diffuse the crisis, convincing the bomber to release the other nine Australian travel agents held captive on tour a bus in China.
Ms Trautsch, who is also a travel agent, told her father Craig by telephone of her ordeal, the Daily Telegraph reports.
She said a 48-year-old woman "convinced the bomber to let some passengers leave the bus because he didn't need so many."
"When they were off the bus she convinced the bomber to let the rest go as well, saying he only needed her as a hostage," said Ms Trautsch, who was recognised at last year's Capital Country Music Association talent quest.
"It was very brave."
Another hostage, 22-year-old Rhiannon Dunkley from central NSW, told a friend that the hijacker was ranting on the bus.
"He was pacing up and down and they couldn't understand what he was saying but they knew from the look on the interpreter's face that something was wrong,'' the friend was quoted as saying.
The hijacker has been identified as Xia Tao, a retrenched aerospace industry worker plagued with debt.
Tao used a retrenchment payout to purchase a $9000 car he intended to use as a taxi, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
But police slapped him with $150 fines for operating his car without a taxi license. The fines were so crippling that he had to borrow thousands of yuan from family and friends to cover the fines, the Herald quoted Tao's neighbour as saying.
A group of travel agents were on a bus with their translator at the Bell and Drum Tower Square in the north-west city of Xi'an, famous for its Terracotta Warriors, when a Chinese national armed with explosives seized the vehicle.
A 48-year-old NSW woman and her translator were kept captive for several hours after the man released nine of the Australians who were on the bus.
A police sniper later shot and killed the armed man as he approached a toll station, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese government spokesman Qin Gang later told the 48-year-old tourist that China would work to improve its security.
"I want to express my sincere apologies to the Australian tourist who was kidnapped in this incident," Mr Gang told the ABC.
"We welcome her to come back to China to travel in the future.
"I hope that she won't feel unsafe in China because of this incident."
©AAP 2008