Media bus struck by suspected stray bullets while traveling between venues

A MEDIA bus at the Rio Olympic Games has been attacked while driving between venues in the Deodoro area of the city, with windows smashed.

JOURNALISTS and volunteers dived screaming to the floor of a moving bus as it came under likely gunfire while traveling between two official Olympic venues in Rio.

The road — from the main Olympic hub in Barra to the nearby competition venue of Deodoro — has been built specifically for the games, cutting through the heart of a zone dogged by deadly crime and lined with favelas.

It’s a built-for-Olympics route that athletes and tourists have been travelling daily to get to sports like rugby, hockey and basketball but locals mostly refuse to take the trip because of the dangers.

The media bus was left with multiple shattered windows from suspected stray bullets

Lee Michael, an American reporter for basketball site Hoop Feed and retired airforce captain told News Corp Australia of the horror as she heard the two shots and saw the windows blow out.

“I’m familiar with the sound of gunfire. I dived to the floor and yelled for everyone to get down,” she said.

The bus driver began to slow down, before Michael and a Getty photographer - a former Iraq embed — yelled at him to speed up to escape the danger area.

It was not known yesterday if the attack was targeted because the bus was well lit in the darkness of night or simply stray bullets from the crime-riddled villages.

The IOC said patrols would be increased in the area. Bizarrely, Rio police insisted the bus had been hit by rocks, despite eye witness accounts on board describing bullet holes and the sound of gunfire.

Passengers screamed and hit the floor as the windows shattered

Two passengers were left bleeding from cuts after the incident but no one was seriously injured. The shooting is the latest in a series of crime events at the Games.

Michael told how the internal bus lights were “on full blare” on the terrifying remainder of the trip back to Barra, with she and other passengers unable to explain to the driver to turn them off.

Michael said police then pulled the bus over soon after and did not bother to inspect it, but spoke briefly to the driver.

After talking to police, a Brazilian reporter on the bus said it was believed it had been pelted by rocks.

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“He started circulating that opinion. We could see the bullet holes,” Michael said.

Local reporter Michael Place said the new road had been built to cut straight through favelas.

“These bus lines are off limits for most people who live here. It’s an underprivileged area and there had been stories about transport being attacked before the Games. I was worried about this before the bus route began operating.”

Place said “people die from stray bullets almost every day in Rio”.

Just yesterday, the Australian Rugby 7s mens team was in Deodoro along with a handful of the Rugby 7s girls there to support them and a host of Australian journalists. None were on the bus involved in the shooting incident.

In a statement the International Olympic Committee said the bus would be inspected and that the driver initially believed the sound to be “photography equipment falling down”.

Originally published as Media bus struck by suspected stray bullets while traveling between venues