A bus carrying journalists at the Olympic games was left with smashed windows after it was attacked on the streets of Rio, just days after a stray bullet tore through a media tent
Three people are believed to have suffered minor injuries after the bus was hit by projectiles.
Officials are yet to confirm what struck the bus, with reports at first suggesting it had been fired on. Other reports claimed stones had been thrown.
Pictures of the bus, which was carrying about a dozen members of the media at the time, show shards of glass covering seats and window panes which were completely cracked.
The bus was travelling between Rio’s Deodoro zone, which is hosting events including hockey and rugby, and the media transport mall in the Olympic Park at around 7.30pm local time (11.30pm BST) on Tuesday when the incident happened.
A Press Association photographer on board 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.”
Rio organising committee spokesman Mario Andrada said: “We don’t know yet if the bus was shot, or if it was a stone.”
He said three of the 12 journalists on the bus received minor injuries.
This is the latest in a number of security-related alerts at the Olympics in Rio.
In one incident, a stray bullet tore through the equestrian media tent on Saturday afternoon. No one was injured.
The incident came shortly after a bomb disposal squad blew up an unattended bag near the finish line of the men’s road cycling race in a controlled explosion.
Meanwhile, two Australian rowing coaches were robbed at knifepoint near the city’s famous Ipanema Beach.