International Olympic Committee investigating attack on media bus
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 10/08/16 10:43am
The International Olympic Committee says security forces are investigating an attack on a media bus travelling between venues at the Rio Olympic Games on Tuesday.
Two windows were smashed in the bus, which was travelling between the Deodoro zone and the main transport mall in the Olympic Park, at around 19.30 local time (23.30 GMT), with about a dozen media on board.
The IOC said the damage had been caused by "objects coming from the surrounding area".
Mario Andrada, the chief spokesman for Rio 2016's organising committee, later revealed three of the 12 journalists on the bus suffered minor injuries.
"We don't know yet if the bus was shot, or it was a stone," he said.
But Lee Michaelson, a reporter on women's basketball who is also a retired US Air Force captain, was in no doubt that the damage had been caused by bullets.
She said: "I know what a gun sounds like. There was a very distinctive sound of the report of a gun. It was the sound before I ever saw the glass or anything.
"With my background and training, I got down on the floor as much as I could and I hollered to the others to get down.
"The others were just beginning to respond. I started yelling at them, 'Get down, get down, we are taking fire'."
A Press Association photographer, travelling on the bus at the time of the incident, said: "We were travelling from the hockey venue to the Main Press Centre. I was sitting at the back. There was a popping, cracking noise.
"The bus didn't come to a stop but paused. Everyone was on the floor so I got on the floor as well.
"The bus driver stopped the bus about half a minute afterwards. People started shouting 'just keep going'. After a couple of minutes we had a police escort.
"A few minutes later the bus pulled over on the motorway and the driver spoke to the police. Then we all got back on the bus and came back to the main transport mall. There were minor injuries from glass shards but nobody was seriously hurt."
The IOC said in a statement: "We are aware that a media bus travelling from Deodoro to Barra on the Transcarioca had two windows broken by objects coming from the surrounding area.
"The security authorities are now investigating the incident and we await their report before making further comment."
The incident on Tuesday is the latest of several to blight the Games.
On Saturday a bullet flew through the side of the media work room at Deodoro.
It was confirmed on Monday by Andrada that the bullet was fired at a security camera on a police blimp from one of the Brazilian city's favelas and the international equestrian media were not the intended target.
"According to the security forces the bullet came from a community far from here," said Andrada. "They were aiming at the blimp which carries cameras.
"The same source, from the ministry of defence, says the first findings showed that the bullet arrived with low energy and low speed."
