About 15 of the nearly 20 hostages escaped out the window of the bus after spending more than seven harrowing hours under the control of the hostage taker, Globo News reported.
It was not immediately clear if there were any more hostages still in the vehicle, aside from the man's wife.
Police surrounded the bus and were trying to negotiate with the man, said to be distraught over his wife possibly leaving him, reports said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006