CROATIAN EMBASSY HELPS PROBE INTO TENNESSEE BUS ACCIDENT

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Hina) - The FBI office in Tennessee on Wednesday asked for assistance from the Croatian Embassy in Washington in establishing whether the person who attacked a Greyhound bus driver and caused an accident in which ten people were killed was really a Croatian citizen. The FBI sent photocopies of the Croatian passport found with the killed attacker to Croatian consular officials on Wednesday. Justice Department spokesman Susan Dryden told Hina the man suspected of having attacked the bus driver and causing the accident had Croatian documents, but they should be checked to see whether they were forged or not. Neither the FBI nor the Croatian Embassy are going to reveal any information until it is established for certain that the passport found is valid and that the personal data it contains refer to the attacker. The Greyhound bus turned over in Tennessee after a passenger with a Croatian passport attacked and killed the bus driver for as yet unknown reasons. The bus passengers who survived the accident said the man was between 30 and 35 years of age. He apparently spoke English with a heavy foreign accent. He asked about the time and where the bus was driving to several times during the ride. He attacked the driver with a razor blade or a paper slicer, witnesses said. After he cut the driver on the neck, he grabbed hold of the wheel and swerved the bus onto a road obstacle separating the highway lanes. The bus broke through the fence and ran into a field on the opposite side. All of the passengers were subsequently in need of medical assistance for fracture, contusions and other injuries. Ten were killed, including the attacker. (hina) lml