12月15日，一辆载有20余名乘客的短途公共汽车在雅典市郊被两名身份不明的武装分子劫持。绑匪向警方提出条件，要求提供一名司机和100万赎金，将他们送上飞往俄罗斯的飞机。所幸的是，绑匪陆续释放了全部的23名人质，并在事件发生18小时后向雅典警方缴械投降。外电报道如下：Two armed hijackers who had threatened to blow up a commuter bus in Greece released all of their remaining captives early Thursday and surrendered to authorities.

The peaceful conclusion brought a dramatic end to the hostage-taking about 18 hours after it began -- a standoff that gripped much of the nation as the hours ticked by for the hijackers' demands to be met.

The hijackers had demanded ? million ($1.34 million) and a driver to take them to the Athens airport to be flown to Russia.

Commuter表示“经常（乘车）往返者；长期票通勤旅客”，commuter bus表示“通勤公共汽车，市郊短途客车”，相关的词汇还有urban commuter（市区定期票旅客），commuter time（上下班时间）等。