Colbert de Torcy is a secondary school in Sable-sur-Sarthe, France.

Hostage crisis

On 9 March 2006 at 2:30 p.m., a 33-year-old former

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

teacher in

Sablé-sur-Sarthe Sablé-sur-Sarthe (, literally ''Sablé on Sarthe''), commonly referred to as Sablé, is a commune in the Sarthe department, in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. It is about 40 km southwest of Le Mans and about 50 km northea ...

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, took 23 people, most of them students aged 16–18, hostage with a handgun. He surrendered peacefully and no one was harmed. The teacher suffered from depression in the past and was

unemployed Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (hu ...

at the time. Although the hostage crisis lasted several hours, there was little tension. Students were allowed to call their parents by cell phone and the man promised the school staff that he would not hurt the students.

was closed off and special forces surrounded the school, ready to move in, when the crisis ended.

References

"Ex-teacher seizes French students", BBC News
Hostage taking in France 2006 in France Buildings and structures in Sarthe Schools in France Education in Pays de la Loire {{France-school-stub fr:Sablé-sur-Sarthe#Prise d'otage de Sablé-sur-Sarthe