Brazil bus siege ends, gunman arrested

An armed man holding dozens of people hostage on a public bus in Rio de Janeiro and threatening to set the vehicle on fire has been arrested by police after a four-hour stand-off.

Brazilian police said the man was armed with a gun and a knife and had threatened to set fire to the bus which had 37 people on board.

The hostage taking started at about 5:30am on Tuesday on a busy bridge linking the suburb of Sao Goncalo to downtown Rio de Janeiro.

Police said they told authorities the man had spilled petrol in the bus and threatened to set it on fire.

Officials said the man identified himself as a policeman but this had not been confirmed.

The man had not made any particular demands and appeared to have "psychological problems," a spokesperson for the traffic police said on TV Globo.