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Philippines Hostage Crisis Ends With Many Dead, Reactions

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

This just happened and was broadcast live on television in China. Some hostages were set free, and some survived, but a lot of the hostages are dead.

From NetEase:

Philippines ex-police hijacks 25-person bus, hostages mostly Hong Kong tourists

August 23rd, a Hong Kong tour bus carrying 25 people in Manila, Philippines was hijacked. After the hijacker set free 6 hostages in the morning, he again set free two more hostages int he afternoon, 3 children and 3 adults were subsequently released. That night, Philippines’ police stormed the bus and shot dead the hijacker, and allegedly rescued hostages are walking out of the bus.

Police commandos surround a bus with tourists being held hostage at Quirino Grandstand in Manila August 23, 2010. Police were poised to storm a bus where a sacked former Filipino policeman was holding 15 Hong Kong tourists hostage in downtown Manila after shots were heard at the scene, TV pictures and a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

Police commandos take cover as the hostage taker fires at them while they assault a bus with tourists being held hostage at Quirino Grandstand in Manila August 23, 2010. Police were poised to storm a bus where a sacked former Filipino policeman was holding 15 Hong Kong tourists hostage in downtown Manila after shots were heard at the scene, TV pictures and a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

A body hangs from the glass door of a tourist bus following an assault by police and SWAT members to rescue hostages at Manila's Rizal Park Monday Aug.23, 2010 in Manila, Philippines. Former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, a dismissed policeman armed with automatic rifle, seized the bus in Manila Monday with 25 people aboard, mostly foreign tourists in a bid to demand reinstatement, police said. Mendoza was killed along with an undetermined number of hostages. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on the tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

A police commando tries to break down the door of a bus as a body lies inside during the assault on a bus with tourists being held hostage at Quirino Grandstand in Manila August 23, 2010. Philippine police commandos crouched around a bus where a sacked former policeman was holding 15 Hong Kong tourists hostage in Manila on Monday and shots were heard at the scene, TV pictures and a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

Police commandos try to open the door of a bus during the assault on a bus with tourists being held hostage at Quirino Grandstand in Manila August 23, 2010. Philippine police commandos crouched around a bus where a sacked former policeman was holding 15 Hong Kong tourists hostage in Manila on Monday and shots were heard at the scene, TV pictures and a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on the tourist bus hijacked in Manila on August 23, 2010. An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in the Philippine capital on August 23, police said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

Paramedics help victims from the hijacked bus in Manila on August 23, 2010. The gunman who seized a bus carrying Hong Kong tourists killed at least four of his hostages in the Philippines, doctors said. AFP PHOTO / JAY DIRECTO

A paramedic (top) lowers one of the wounded survivor from the hijacked bus in Manila on August 23, 2010. A dramatic hostage siege in the Philippine capital involving a busload of Hong Kong tourists ended after 12 hours with several captives walking free but the fate of 11 others unknown. AFP PHOTO / JAY DIRECTO

Paramedics (top) lower a victim from the hijacked bus in Manila on August 23, 2010. The gunman who seized a bus carrying Hong Kong tourists killed at least four of his hostages in the Philippines, doctors said. AFP PHOTO / JAY DIRECTO

A paramedic (not pictured) lowers one of the wounded survivor from the hijacked bus in Manila on August 23, 2010. A dramatic hostage siege in the Philippine capital involving a busload of Hong Kong tourists ended after 12 hours with several captives walking free but the fate of 11 others unknown. AFP PHOTO / JAY DIRECTO

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Comments from KDS:

seven:

The quality of Philippine police is so poor.

fyi:

In Shenzhen hotel watching the local Hong Kong channel. The Philippine police are simply too valiant [sarcasm], not even able to break the glass window after half an hour. I predict the hostages were all killed.

puma_4:

Philippine police work is too poor, give this to the chengguan and it’ll be taken care of in minutes.

春来:

If you couldn’t handle it, why didn’t you say earlier? We could’ve airlifted a truck of chengguan there to help. emoticon

puma_4:

Sigh, the whole world is watching the joke that is the Philippines police.

休利特:

Fuck, after 20 minutes, they only managed to make a few small holes [in the windows/glass]. Either this tour bus is too mighty/powerful or Philippine special police [SWAT] are too mentally handicapped.

The ridiculous thing is that in they ended up going in through the emergency door in the back of the bus…fuck, is this bunch of special police stupid or what? Wasting over 20 minutes, what were they doing earlier? emoticon

远古越:

These police, this level [of competence…is unbelievable]! emoticon

puma_4:

Hong Kong buses are so high quality, that our Filipino friends can’t break them down.

么米XSL:

Filipino country people, they’ve never been in a major situation. emoticon

休利特:

From 10 in the morning till now. This much time and they hadn’t even figure out the bus’s structure. The intelligence of Southeast Asian monkey’s truly cannot be complimented. I bet even the gunman was becoming impatient…

阿豪哥:

Good show good show, comparable to American blockbusters.

尾大光绒:

So tragic, I’m watching the live broadcast, Australia-Asia TV. They should’ve just blown up that guy’s head when he was at the window earlier. Looks like the Heavenly Kingdom’s [China’s] police still have the right idea [referring to the aggressiveness of Chinese police, such as in this example]. emoticon

过猴山:

Philippine police are using real people for anti-terrorist exercises. emoticon

三宅一生:

Really don’t understand what those people who are still looking on at the commotion are thinking. Have they played too much CS [Counter-Strike], thinking those who died can respawn with full health? emoticon

DKman:

The Philippines’ two great dangers.
Soldiers and police.

国王的房间:

NEVER TRAVEL TO PHILLIPPEANEemoticon

哈喽哈喽:

If this tour bus were full of Americans, what would the situation be like?

舞搞百叶结:

It’s over, they’re all dead. emoticonemoticonemoticon
The Filipino monkeys are all idiots. emoticon

homechangshu:

All of China forbids traveling to the Philippines for 3 years.

坍台王子:

The difficulty of a bus rescue is very high~
I imagine it will becomes a new training topic for CT [counter-terrorism]~

天棚元帅:

Life is about to become difficult for Hong Kong Filipino domestic help/servants. emoticon

宽待山伯爵:

If only China’s CT’s went.

They would charge in, say “get down” in Chinese,

then spray wildly with the 79 [maybe a type of gun], emptying a clip in maybe a few seconds.

If the Hong Kong people can’t understand Chinese [putonghua], then too bad.

老别克:

I see them carrying them out one by one, there is a really uncomfortable feeling in my heart. emoticon

我的九月:

The people there have always been very hostile towards our people [Chinese]. The Indonesian monkeys are, Filipino monkeys too.
Think back to the 1998 Indonesian riots.
So, if you’re going to go vacation, go somewhere farther, and if you can avoid Southeast Asia, avoid it, it is not safe.

木林森林木:

This is the level of the Philippines and they still want to fight China in the South China Sea. Several trucks of chengguan will suffice.

爷爷:

At least they can live broadcast in the Philippines, so we know how they died.

都市步兵团:

One can well imagine that this video will become a classic bad example for the counter-terrorism units of various countries.

flugel:

The Philippines’ high IQ police [sarcasm], trying to break the bus door and dropping the hammer inside, trying to pull open the door and having the rope snap, only to later realize that they could open the back door…

typhoon:

The Philippines police are also just nonchalant/not taking their jobs seriously. If they storm in and things don’t go well, lives are lost, and some foreigners die, oh well.

strong:

The killed were Hong Kong compatriots, I feel really awful. emoticon

What do you think of how the Philippines hostage situation was handled?

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Written by Fauna

Fauna is a mysterious young Shanghainese girl who lives in the only place a Shanghainese person would ever want to live: Shanghai. In mid-2008, she started chinaSMACK to combine her hobby of browsing Chinese internet forums with her goal of improving her English. Through her tireless translation of popular Chinese internet news and phenomenon, her English has apparently gotten dramatically better. At least, reading and writing-wise. Unfortunately, she's still not confident enough to have written this bio, about herself, by herself.

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