Two passengers were injured Wednesday after they jumped off a moving expressway bus hijacked on Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu by an unidentified person believed to be a male teenager, while two of the passengers still on board appear to have been hurt, police said.

The bus, which was carrying some 20 passengers when it was hijacked en route from Saga in southwestern Japan to Fukuoka, is now in Hiroshima Prefecture and heading toward Okayama Prefecture in western Japan. Police vehicles are chasing the bus while helicopters chartered by the media are flying above.

The bus was hijacked at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday near the Dazaifu Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway by a knife-wielding male passenger. He appears to be a high school student, police said.

One passenger, a 30-year-old nurse from Saga Prefecture, jumped off the bus near the town of Ogoori in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and sustained injuries, they said. Her condition is reportedly not critical.

Another passenger, a 52-year-old man from Saga, jumped off the bus at around 4:20 p.m. in the prefecture and was slightly injured, police said.

The inside of the bus cannot be seen as all the curtains are drawn.

Details were not immediately available about the two passengers on board that police believe are injured.

One passenger, who managed to escape from the bus at the Dazaifu Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway, called the state-run Japan Highway Public Corp. using an emergency highway telephone and police were then alerted, police said. Nishitetsu said the bus has sufficient fuel to run for 1,200 kilometers, a distance reaching Tokyo.

Because the bus is for short-distance trips, it is not equipped with a television, telephone or bathroom, the company said.

A bus hijacked on Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu by an unidentified man believed to be a teenager stopped shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday in a parking lot in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, after four male passengers were released, police said.

Police were negotiating with the hijacker while ambulances stood by in the parking lot in Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture.

Two passengers were injured earlier Wednesday when they jumped from the moving express bus in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

The four men, who were let off the bus near a tunnel in the city of Hiroshima, told police that the bus was carrying about 10 passengers, all female. Some of the passengers still on board were injured, police quoted the men as saying.

The bus was carrying some 20 passengers when it was hijacked en route from Saga in southwestern Japan to Fukuoka on Kyushu. Police vehicles have been chasing the bus while helicopters chartered by the media are flying above.

The bus was hijacked at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday near the Dazaifu Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway by a knife-wielding male passenger. He appears to be between 16 and 18, police said.

Mikiko Matsuno, a 30-year-old nurse from Saga Prefecture, jumped off the bus near the town of Ogoori in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and sustained injuries, they said. Her condition is reportedly not critical.

Masayuki Kishikawa, a 52-year-old company employee from Saga, jumped off the bus at around 4:20 p.m. in the prefecture and was slightly injured, police said.

The inside of the bus cannot be seen as all the curtains are drawn.

One passenger, who managed to escape from the bus at the Dazaifu Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway, called the state-run Japan Highway Public Corp. using an emergency highway telephone and police were then alerted, police said.

Nishitetsu said the bus has sufficient fuel to run for 1,200 kilometers, a distance reaching Tokyo.