Italian authorities say a bus driver transporting schoolchildren stopped his vehicle on a provincial highway, told the passengers to get off and then doused the interior with gasoline and set it on fire. Italian media reported that the driver, an Italian of Senegalese origin, was immediately apprehended. The motive for the arson attack Thursday morning on the outskirts of Milan was unclear. An official told Sky TG24 that the middle school-age children alerted authorities, aiding a speedy emergency response. Twelve children and two adults were taken the hospital but authorities reported only one injury. Video showed firefighters dousing the bus that had been completely gutted by flames, leaving only the charred metal frame. ANSA said the bus was carrying about 50 children from the Lombard province of Cremona.<doc-sep>MILAN - A bus full of school children was set on fire by its driver in the outskirts of Milan on Wednesday in an apparent protest against migrant drownings in the Mediterranean, Italian authorities said.All the children managed to escape unhurt before the bus was engulfed in flames. Police said the driver was an Italian of Senegalese origin. "He shouted, 'Stop the deaths at sea, I'll carry out a massacre,'" spokesman Marco Palmieri quoted the driver as telling police after his arrest.A video posted on Italian news sites showed the driver ramming the bus into cars on a provincial highway before the fire took hold. Children can be seen running away from the vehicle screaming and shouting "escape. "One of the children told reporters that the driver had threatened to pour petrol on them and set them alight. One of group managed to call the police, who rushed to the scene and got everyone to safety.Palmieri said some children were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure because they had bruises or were in a state of shock, but none suffered serious injuries.The United Nations estimates that some 2,297 migrants drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2018 as they tried to reach Europe.A Libyan security official said on Tuesday that at least 10 migrants died when their boat sank off the Libyan coast near the western town of Sabratha.<doc-sep>A crazed school bus driver with a criminal record hijacked a school bus full of children in Italy, threatened to kill them and set the vehicle on fire – all in a twisted effort to protest the drownings of migrants at sea, according to reports. Ousseynou Sy, 47, who is originally from Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004, hijacked the bus with 52 middle schoolers aboard in the northern province of Cremona outside Milan, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. He has a rap sheet for drunken driving and sexual assault of a minor, The Local reported. Sy ordered a teacher to clamp the kids’ hands with plastic ties and subjected his passengers to about 40 minutes of terror as he railed at the government’s migrant policy and confiscated their cell phones. The unhinged driver said he wanted to kill himself and “stop the deaths in the Mediterranean,” sources told the news outlet. “No one will survive!” Sy said after hijacking the bus outside San Donato near Milan, according to Luca De Marchis, a commander with the paramilitary Carabinieri police force. The teacher at the Vailati di Crema school whom he ordered to tie up the children only attached the ties to four of five of them – and did so loosely so they could easily slip them off later. A 12-year-old boy who managed to break free called police on his phone, which he managed to keep during the ordeal, The Local reported. Sy poured gas in the bus and set it on fire after trying to ram a police roadblock, but police managed to stop the vehicle and free the children by breaking the back window, sources told ANSA. Twelve children and two adults were hospitalized with smoke inhalation, as was Sy, the sources said. A girl said Sy “handcuffed us and threatened us. He said that if we moved he would pour the gas and light the fire. He kept saying that people in Africa are dying and the fault is Di Maio and Salvini.” Luigi Di Maio, head of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement l, and Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League, are the two partners in the populist government, which has closed ports to migrant rescue ships. Another girl said “he took our phones but one schoolmate managed to keep his. We were cuffed with electrician’s ties. He told us nothing would happen but threatened to pour the gas.” A teacher said that it was not the first time Sy drove a bus with students on board. “We knew him” the teacher said. “He wanted to get to the runway at (Milan’s) Linate (airport).” Sy faces possible charges of kidnapping, attempted mass murder, causing a fire and resisting arrest, judicial sources said. “It was a miracle they survived and we have to thank the Carabinieri for that,” Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco said, adding that prosecutors also were weighing terrorism charges. Sy has worked for the Autoguidovie bus company since 2004, according to a statement the company printed in La Repubblica. “Over the years he has never shown any imbalance, nor have we ever received complaints about his conduct as driver […] we were not aware of his criminal record,” the statement said.<doc-sep>
A Senegalese native angry about Italy's migrant policy hijacked a bus with 51 children and their chaperones aboard Wednesday and took them on an hour-long drive before setting the vehicle ablaze, officials said. The driver, who is a citizen of Italy, allegedly said he wanted to kill himself and “stop the deaths in the Mediterranean,” ANSA reported. "He wanted to get to the runway at [Milan's airport],” a girl told ANSA. "He handcuffed us and threatened us. He said that if we moved he would pour out the petrol and light the fire.” “[The driver] kept saying that people in Africa are dying and the fault is [deputy prime ministers Luigi] Di Maio and [Matteo] Salvini,” she added. FRANCE TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO MAINTAIN SECURITY DURING PROTESTS The man, reportedly in his 40s, took the bus carrying two middle-school classes in Cremona province, about 25 miles from Milan, and drove for an hour before authorities intercepted the vehicle using three Carabinieri vehicles. Authorities were able to set up a roadblock based on information from an adult and a student who called a parent. "While two officers kept the driver busy — he took a lighter and threatened to set fire to the vehicle with a gasoline canister on board — the others forced open the back door," Commander Luca De Marchis told Sky24TV. The driver started the blaze as officers broke the glass in the back door of the bus, allowing the passengers to escape before flames engulfed the entire vehicle. Video of the incident’s aftermath showed a charred metal frame. INDIAN DIAMOND TYCOON ARRESTED IN LONDON OVER ALLEGED ROLE IN $2 BILLION BANKING SCANDAL Some passengers were taken to the hospital for cuts and scratches. The driver, who lived in Cremona and is married with two children, was being treated for burns. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The driver had worked for the bus company for 15 years without any employment-related issues, Sky TV24 reported. De Marchis said he had previous convictions, but he did not specify their nature other than to say they were not serious crimes. The Associated Press contributed to this report.