Manila: A day after the Philippines bus hijacking crisis killed eight people, all Chinese tourists from Hong Kong, China has demanded a probe into the incident.
Meanwhile, Philippines' National Police Director General called for a thorough investigation into the incident after his men faced flak for their response to the hostage drama.
In Hong Kong a "black" travel warning has been raised, which urges all travel to the Philippines to be cancelled and calls on Hong Kong people in the Philippines to leave as soon as possible.
Relatives of victims of the Philippines bus hijacking arrived in Manila early on Tuesday morning in an aircraft chartered by the Hong Kong government.
(Read: 8 hostages killed on hijacked Philippine bus, gunman shot)The plane departed from Hong Kong's airport carrying the hostages' relatives, accompanied by medics, social welfare officials, police and immigration representatives.
The 12-hour hostage drama aboard a tourist bus in Manila, ended in
bloodshed on Monday, with at least seven Hong Kong tourists dead along
with the disgruntled ex-policeman who hijacked the vehicle and demanded
his job back.
(See Pics)Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang late on Monday called the incident "a major tragedy". He said that he found the handling of the situation "particularly the outcome" had been "disappointing".
At least six captives survived, four of whom were seen crawling out the back door of the bus after Philippine police stormed it Monday evening when the hostage-taker started shooting at the 15 Chinese tourists inside, according to a senior police superintendent.
One of the surviving hostages, who gave her name only as Ms. Leung, said her husband had been shot dead in the bus and she had wanted to die with him.
"But when I thought of my children, I thought that one of us should protect ourselves as best as we could, to look after them," she said.
The tourists had been on a visit to Manila and had been due to fly back
to the Chinese territory on Monday, according to tour operator Hong
Thai Travel Services Limited.
The crisis began when the dismissed policeman, 55-year-old Rolando Mendoza, armed with a M16 rifle, seized the busload of tourists to demand his reinstatement in the force.
According to newspaper reports from 2008, he was among five officers who had been charged with robbery, extortion and grave threats after a Manila hotel chef filed a complaint alleging the policemen falsely accused him of using drugs to extort money.
For NDTV Updates, follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook
Please upgrade your flash player to view this content.
Ravish Kumar
Do try to read the Caravan magazine. Narrative journalism. Magazine has a diff touch. Published by delhi press. Open is also good. 6 hours ago
ReadReply
Nikhil Naz
RT @TheHarrySingh: What would Dhoni's biography be called? A: 'Calmsutra' :-P @sanjaymanjrekar @gauravCNNIBN @NikhilNaz 6 hours ago
ReadReply