The remaining 15 Chinese nationals who were held captive in a tourist bus hijacked by a dismissed policeman were killed, the local media reported.

The Filipino bus driver, one of the hostages who managed to escape, said that the hostage taker killed all the captives, according to a live interview with a reporter of ABS-CBN News Channel.

There's no independent confirmation yet of the bus driver's statement.

Local police stormed the bus to confront the hostage taker, former Police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza. The police smashed the windows of the bus, while exchanging gunshots with Mendoza.

Earlier, Mendoza freed nine passengers, seven of whom are tourists from Hong Kong and two Filipino travel company employees. The seven Hong Kongers are now in a hotel and are undergoing a stress debriefing. They were released after hours of negotiation with local officials.