(CNN) Italian police say a quick-thinking student hid himself and called authorities when a school bus carrying 51 children was hijacked and set on fire by its driver. Because of his heroic act, the Interior Ministry says it will speed up granting citizenship to the student, who is from Egypt, and the ministry will also cover the costs of the citizenship process.

The mayor of Crema's secretary said the student pretended to pray in Arabic while, in reality, he was warning his father, who alerted police of the hijacking.

None of the pupils, aged between 11 and 13, was hurt after police arrived and broke the back windows to free the passengers, a police spokesman told CNN.

The driver, named by police as 47-year-old Ousseynou Sy, a Senegal-born Italian citizen, was arrested and faces attempted murder, kidnapping, resisting arrest and arson charges.

Carabinieri spokesman Marco Palmieri said the bus was supposed to return to the school in Crema, northern Italy, after the pupils attended a gym session on Wednesday. Instead it headed toward Milan's Linate airport.

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