Sydney siege: Radio host Ray Hadley received multiple calls from hostage

Australian radio host Ray Hadleyreceived several phone calls from one of the hostages held for 16hours at aSydney caf. As the situation escalated, police sent a negotiator to the studio to handle the calls, whichkept coming as the siege unfolded.

Hadley told CBC News he was initially skeptical about the call, so he spoke to the individual off the air.

• Sydney caf siege leaves 3 dead, including gunman

• #IllRideWithYou: Aussies offer support to Muslims fearing backlash

"I spoke with a young man who was having instructions barked at him by a person speaking in English but withan Arabic accent," Hadley said. "That person told him that he wanted me to convey that he wanted to speak toour prime minister, Tony Abbott, that he wanted an ISIL(ISIS) flag conveyed to the caf. There were other demands. They were quite strange."

The radio host gave police the mobile phone number of the hostage, and theyconfirmed it was the same person they had spoken with earlier.

Police asked Hadley not to broadcast the information, a request he complied witheven as more calls came in during the crisis. A negotiator was sent to the studio to handle the calls while Hadley stayed on air.

Hadley said he later took another three calls from the young man, "with the same demands being barked down."

The negotiator who was sent to the station by police took over handling the calls while Hadley stayed on the air from9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The negotiator fielded calls from the young man, but also from "other female hostages who were inside" the caf,the radio host said.

"I've been doing this for 30 years, and I've never been in this situation before," he said.

"I'm not a negotiator;I'm a radio host."

Click the video above above to watch the full interview with the Sydney radio host.