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A brave passenger has told how he wrestled a gun off an attacker as two thugs tried to take cash from a bus driver.

Anthony Cardona, 45, was hit on the back of the head when he was getting off the Matthews.ie coach at around 11pm on Friday.

He believes he was struck with a handgun as one of the two robbers boarded the bus just as he was getting off at the Donore Road in Drogheda, Co Louth.

He said: “On the last step as I got off the bus I felt something very hard hitting my head and all of a sudden there was this horrible noise in my ear like a whistle thing and I just collapsed.

“I went down. I thought what was happening?”

The terrified man looked up and saw the second robber who was waiting outside the bus.

Anthony recalled: “I saw a guy coming with a baton. As I got up I realised there was a metal taste in my mouth and I saw blood. He was coming towards me and I saw the baton coming in front of my face.

“I grabbed it and I started to protect myself. I thought if I moved in closer to him it would reduce the risk of me getting struck again.

“He was starting to try and run away and I grabbed his jacket and mask and he unzipped it and ran off. I felt a mobile phone and I grabbed it too.”

Next Anthony heard the sound of glass breaking and realised all the passengers on the bus were in danger.

He said: “I saw the other guy with the gun coming out through the glass door of the bus which he had just broken.

“I thought if that guy manages to come down with the gun that someone could get seriously injured. That was the moment I knew I had to try and get that gun off him.

“I don’t know how I did it but I managed to disarm him. I thought, ‘This is one less weapon in the world’.

“When I disarmed him he still tried to attack me and I used the baton to defend myself. He threatened to find me and kill me.

“I tried to take off his mask but my legs were wobbling so much and he ran away then.”

(Image: Ciara Wilkinson)

Anthony was afraid there could be accomplices waiting nearby so he hid in a nearby alley.

He saw people pass by who did not stop to help him but said he understands they were probably afraid.

He added: “I don’t blame them, seeing a gun, seeing someone with masks on, who wouldn’t keep going?”

Other passers-by called an ambulance and the brave passenger was brought to the emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where he needed stitches for a large gash to his head.

His arm was also treated for soft tissue injuries.

But he said he wouldn’t have reacted any differently if he found himself in the same situation again.

Anthony added: “What if there was a death on that bus and it was my sister or my mother or an elderly person? I felt vulnerable and I still do, but I thought what if a young woman, three weeks pregnant and with the fright she loses the baby?”

Gardai in Drogheda are investigating the attempted robbery.

They said the driver was threatened by a man carrying a firearm and demanded money from him. Officers are following a definite line of enquiry into the incident and Garda Supt Gerry Smith said they were appreciative of the efforts by the passenger who was “a public-spirited person”.

Drogheda Mayor Paul Bell commended Anthony’s actions saying he confronted “absolute cowards preying on citizens going about their everyday business”.

He added: “I commend his courage in facing the situation which involved putting himself at risk.”

In a statement Matthews.ie chief Paddy Matthews praised both the passenger and the driver for the heroic and selfless way in which they acted.

He said: “Both of these people are heroes who put the safety of the passengers before their own.

“The driver immediately moved the passengers to a safe location where they were quickly transferred to another Matthews bus to complete their journeys.”