26 People Held Hostage in The Philippines

[PT]

Edit:  The Yahoo article says he had a M-16 rifle.  A rifle!  Those things are no good in close quarters.  Why did the hostages not disarm him!

Fear, maybe? I doubt many people (if any at all) were thinking about a way to disarm him. In a situation like that, it would probably be easier to cooperate and hope he doesn't kill you than try and take him down and basically put yourself as his biggest target if you fail. Plus, if the gunman is at the front of the bus, then the only way to get close to him is to approach from the front - where the gun is. If they had a chance to get him from behind, that might be different.

@alicetama: according to the yahoo article, only 8 died of the 26. Though that may be including the gunman, so maybe only 7 of the hostages?

[ccppfan]

8 people were killed.

EDIT: Another Yahoo article, in Cantonese.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/event/fc/20100823/hkhttour1.html

Useless Philippines Police: 8 Hong Kong Hostages Harmed

23rd August, a harrowing day for Hong Kong. A Hong Thai Tour (Hong Thai is the company) was held hostage by a gunman in Manila, Philippines, for 11 hours. The case ended in bloodshed, with 8 HK citizens dead, and the gunman shot. During the 11 hours, the local police didn't have much action; only at night, when the gunman started killing the hostages, did they attempt to enter the bus. Unfortunately, they were too late. A woman whose husband was shot while trying to protect her sobbed after the case, "There were more than 10 people on the bus, why didn't they (the police) save us?!"

Well. What useful policemen, eh.

EDIT 2: And that photo in that article, is probably the dead body. O__O

[kate_49]

No, at least we don't know yet. The police are still trying to open the doors.... with a hyping rope.

And yeah, it was a tour from Hong Kong, after all. I don't know how popular The Philippines is as a tourist spot,but yeah, we certainly won't go there any time soon.

Imma tell you... Philippines is a great tourist spot.... it has so many beautiful places here... please don't think that because of that event, you won't visit the philippines.... but it's up to you...

God, what the hell are they doing? First they open the door with a rope, but back out soon after.

Then, when the man fired, they threw a smoke bomb. *facepalms*

And now, they're using wood planks to make a ledge from the ground to the back window of the bus.... wha? POLICEMEN, I THOUGHT YOU WERE TRAINED TO DO THIS KIND OF THING.

Correcting this one.... when they open the door with the rope, it got stuck or something(i don't really know).... then didn't threw a smoke a bomb... it's a tear gas.... and one more thing....

kate.. are you safe??

yeah, I'm alright... I live in another city(not too far from the scene)... i'm watching it all at home that time...

________________________________________________________________________

First of all I'm not saying all of this because i'm a filipino and i'm siding with them..... The truth is I REALLY HATE WHAT THEY DID... those policemen of ours... they are scaredy cats.... what is a police anyway?? a police is someone who is always ready to risk his life for the sake of others, right? I really hate our policemen... about the hostage taker... yeah true, he was once a policeman before... there's a news(i think only in our country) saying how he got fired... so one employee in a hotel or something(i forgot), parked his car... "that policeman" along with others told him that it was no parking area...  then they started looking and taking things in his car... the policemen even let him take "shabu"(drugs) of which they frightened him that they accuse him of illegal drugs if he didn't follow them...

Well, the reason i'm saying all of this is... DON'T THINK SO BAD AND LOW ABOUT US FILIPINOS... not all people are like that in the philippines...


thanks!!!

[xpon]

kate.. we are not mad at the general philippines!.

well.. my country is became victim of teror a couple of times.

The Bali BOMB case 1 & 2
the JW marriot BOMB...

and others..

the tourism is really getting into a hard situations! ..because that terror!

we really need a long time just to regain the trust from international people.

so i do hope all of us who can help to rebuild the trust.. to do so.

help the philippines because it not their fault!.. the bad guys is the enemies.. not the philippines

[Abs.]

The Hong Kong government does not share your view.

Hong Kong urged its residents to cut short or cancel planned trips to the Philippines on Tuesday in the aftermath of a bloodbath that left eight dead on a Manila tour bus.

Hong Kong's regional government issued its highest level of travel warnings in the aftermath of the killings, urging all residents to avoid traveling to the Philippines.

"Those already there should attend to their personal safety and stay alert," the advisory read. Tour groups were urged to return "as soon as possible," while other groups scheduled to visit were urged to cancel their trips.

[xpon]

The Hong Kong government does not share your view.

Hong Kong urged its residents to cut short or cancel planned trips to the Philippines on Tuesday in the aftermath of a bloodbath that left eight dead on a Manila tour bus.

Hong Kong's regional government issued its highest level of travel warnings in the aftermath of the killings, urging all residents to avoid traveling to the Philippines.

"Those already there should attend to their personal safety and stay alert," the advisory read. Tour groups were urged to return "as soon as possible," while other groups scheduled to visit were urged to cancel their trips.

understand able..

we got 2 years travel warning....from almost all country after the incident happens

[Abs.]

See the difference is that the Philippines thing is an isolated incident - yeah, there's hell buckets of crime and such, but it's not every day that a crazy ex-cop holds up a bus full of tourists.

Whereas the bombings in Bali and JW Marriott were the work of organized terrorist networks.

[xpon]

See the difference is that the Philippines thing is an isolated incident - yeah, there's hell buckets of crime and such, but it's not every day that a crazy ex-cop holds up a bus full of tourists.

Whereas the bombings in Bali and JW Marriott were the work of organized terrorist networks.

yeah......but still.. terror is bad.. and the Philippines as a general must pay for the crime they didnt do!

[bluekaitou1412]

Actually I was very near the place of the incident. About 5 km or so.

[ccppfan]

Actually I was very near the place of the incident. About 5 km or so.

O__o

Oh and.... a very sad thing...

There was a 15 year old girl who survived the incident. She and her brother are both safe. When questioned by a reporter what she would like to do first when she recovered, she replied, "I want to find my mother... and my father....". Unfortunately, her parents, along with her aunt, were all killed in the incident. The doctors advised everyone to not tell the girl about her parents' and aunt's death, in case her health turns worse. Her brother, who survived, was freed along with two other tourists who pretended to be his relatives. He too does not know of his parents' death yet.

Damn..... poor siblings.

[bluekaitou1412]

I understand what the others might feel about that. Well, it can't be helped. But please refrain from saying "The Philippine police are useless" and all that crap. Hell, okay, I'm sure you can all do better than what they did, so give 'em a break!

[mangaluva]

I understand what the others might feel about that. Well, it can't be helped. But please refrain from saying "The Philippine police are useless" and all that crap. Hell, okay, I'm sure you can all do better than what they did, so give 'em a break!

Agreed. It's a tragedy, but there's no use blaming the police or the victims. The one you SHOULD blame is the mental eejit who decided it was a good idea to take a bunch of hostages and kill them.

[ccppfan]

Okay, I won't. They did try, I guess.

And those siblings.... man.

[bluekaitou1412]

If that hostage-taker happened to be Chinese and the hostages Filipinos, I'm sure this won't even reach CNN.


I'm serious.

[mangaluva]

If that hostage-taker happened to be Chinese and the hostages Filipinos, I'm sure this won't even reach CNN.


I'm serious.

Why would it? Might make the BBC, but only if it's a slow news day. The sad truth is that "world" news networks generally only tell you about what concerns their little piece of the world.