A man in an inadequate state attacked a public transport driver in Burgas on Saturday afternoon. The attacker is a 44-year-old man from Nessebar, who was boarding the bus from the bus stop to the state university.
Eng. Petko Dragnev, director of the municipal enterprise “Burgasbus“, said that according to information from the driver and the conductor, after boarding the bus, the person began to riot. He asked the passengers to call 112 and claimed that the bus had been hijacked.
The passengers were three boys aged 15-16 and one woman.
"The man began to behave rudely with them. The driver shows professionalism in the situation and maintains his composure. He stops at a bus stop so that passengers can get off and no one is injured. Only he and the conductor remain on the bus. The aggression immediately turns to the conductor. The man starts pushing her and insists on giving him a phone to call 112. The next moment, he pulls out a knife and threatens the driver not to enter the terminal but to continue on the route. From there, the driver manages to control the situation, although the attacker tries to pull the steering wheel and in every way interfere with the driving of the bus. Despite this, the driver manages to stop at the terminal. His colleagues immediately come to his aid. The attacker tries to break the window of the driver's cabin with an emergency hammer to get to the steering wheel. Despite everything, the driver managed to maintain control, stopped at the terminal, his colleagues assisted and called 112. From there, the law enforcement officers took over the case," Dragnev said.
Teams from the specialized police units and the Second District Directorate were sent to the scene. The man was admitted to the Mental Health Center.
Eng. Dragnev also shared that the conductor is very stressed by what happened, and the bus driver is more emotionally controlled. Both are released from work today and tomorrow to recover from the stress. It will become clear on Monday whether they are able to return to work.