Kenya bus attack: 'My passengers are like my brothers and sisters'

"I am not a hero," said softly spoken Raymond Juma.

The bus driver was speaking after his actions saved his 47 passengers from a militant attack in the east of Kenya.

"My passengers are like my mothers, my brothers and sisters.

"I just did what anyone else would have done to save myself and those I love," he told the BBC.

Mr Juma was driving one of the two buses, owned by the Mombasa Raha company, which were attacked by heavily armed men on 2 January on the road between the coastal towns of Mombasa and Lamu.

He said the men, who were wearing military fatigue jackets, appeared without warning from behind a minivan that was parked at the side of the road and fired in the air, ordering him to stop.

"It was like a scene from a horror movie," he said. But he drove on.

"When I didn't stop, they fired directly at the bus. I knew if I stopped, that would be the end of me and my passengers.

"People were screaming and crying when the shots were fired. From my rear-view mirror, I saw some duck on the floor of the bus as I sped off."
'Scariest moment of my life'

The bullets grazed the side of the bus and punctured the front tyres, which meant it finally ground to a halt 100m (330 ft) up the road.

"When I stopped... people started jumping out of the bus windows trying to get to safety. People were just running everywhere, including into the forest."