(ANSA) - Milan, March 20 - A 47-year-old man was held by Carabinieri police on Wednesday after allegedly hijacking a bus with schoolchildren aboard and subsequently starting a fire inside the vehicle, sources said.

According to an initial reconstruction, the man hijacked the bus with 51 pupils of a middle school at Vailati di Crema, in the northern province of Cremona.

He said he wanted to kill himself and "stop the deaths in the Mediterranean" the sources said.

The suspect has been named as Ousseynou Sy, a man with a criminal record who is originally from Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004.

Carabinieri police managed to block the bus after one of the young people sounded the alarm.

Twelve children and two adults were taken to hospital after suffering smoke inhalation, as was Sy.

The bus is a write-off