Mexico Robbers Free Hostages, Take New Ones

Six gunmen who held more than 40 hostages in a bank overnight in a bloody robbery attempt that left five people dead traded their hostages for four Red Cross workers today, then boarded an armored car provided by police and drove off to an undisclosed destination.

“We’re free! We’re free!” some of the hostages shouted as they left the bank.

“Calm down! Calm down!” one of the gunmen shouted from inside the bank as he ushered them out, apparently as part of a second agreement to free the hostages reached after an earlier settlement broke down in gunfire.

Authorities in Los Mochis, 400 miles south of the Arizona border in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, said the gunmen released all the hostages in exchange for the Red Cross workers and the escape car.

Hail of Bullets Earlier

An earlier attempt today to end the day-old crisis failed in a hail of bullets that erupted just as four women hostages tried to leave the building, which had been encircled by 500 police and army troops.

Red Cross commander Jose Lopez said after the first agreement broke down: “There was already a solution when there was gunfire and now the situation is much more tense. There apparently is not complete coordination among the authorities.”

The drama began at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday when six men in their 20s armed with rifles and reportedly carrying explosives tried to rob the Banamex bank in Los Mochis.

Guards opened fire, starting a fire fight that killed two employees, two customers and one police officer. Twelve other people were wounded.

Hostages Held All Night

The gunmen took hostage all employees and customers, about 45 in all, and held them through the night, except for three complaining of stomach pains who were released before dawn.

The government surrounded the centrally located bank with an estimated 500 soldiers and police and negotiated through the night.

In the early morning, both sides said, they reached an agreement to free some the hostages in exchange for Red Cross volunteer hostages and permission to escape in an armored car the government parked outside the bank.

But when four women hostages went up to the door to leave the bank, gunfire erupted, apparently from police.

“The authorities violated the agreement with the bank robbers,” hostage Glen Varcho told United Press International by telephone.