Frightening: Bomb threats and evacuations in several schools in Hungary

Schools in several cities across Hungary, including a primary school in Budapest, had to be evacuated due to bomb threats on Monday morning, the Hungarian police confirmed.

According to Magyar Hang, a total of seven Hungarian schools had to be evacuated on this Monday, 13 May after receiving bomb threats. Two schools were affected both in Szeged and in Szombathely, and one school each in Kulcs, Nyíregyháza, and Budapest. The evacuation reportedly took place in all of these institutions just after 8 AM.

As the local site to Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, szon.hu writes the school in Nyíregyháza was threatened via telephone, with the caller claiming that an explosive device placed in the school would be detonated at 11:30. The other institutions affected received bomb threats during the night and in the early morning via e-mail.

The report from Magyar Hang on the shocking events was confirmed by the Hungarian police force.

A school in Budapest also received bomb threats on Monday

No official statement was released about the bomb scare at a primary school in Budapest, but two parents told Magyar Hang that the school was evacuated after 8 AM, with children being led to a nearby playground.

The schools were thoroughly searched, but no explosives were found. In some cases, classes resumed after the bomb search was completed – for example, children returned to school just before noon at the primary school in the capital – while for others, the school day was cancelled altogether on Monday.

Magyar Hang contacted the school director and the police to find out details about the primary school in Budapest, as it was not mentioned in earlier press releases, to ask how many schools altogether were affected by the bomb threats, and whether there was any connection between them. So far, they have not received any answers to their questions.

Index.hu writes that the National Police Headquarters replied to their inquiries stating that the investigation into the bomb threats is under way at the National Investigation Office of the Police Department, but that they are unable to provide further information since it is an ongoing investigation.

Similar bomb threats occurred in Slovakia a week ago

As Magyar Hang highlights,  educational institutions located in Slovakia have received similar bomb threats recently. On the same Monday as in Hungary, the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava was sent an e-mail about explosives in the building and had to be evacuated immediately.

Furthermore, on Tuesday last week (7 May), a total of 1,543 schools in the country had to be put under bomb alert, with 110 banks and 40 electronics shops also threatened with explosive devices. In all cases, the buildings were evacuated, and bomb squads were deployed to the scene to search the premises with bomb-sniffing dogs. No explosives were found at any site.

According to the report from 444.hu, the headmasters of the schools targeted on Tuesday received threatening emails from a Russian address written in Slovakian. The message read, among other things: “Wherever you are, the mujahideen will kill you in your cities. There is a bomb on the school grounds.”

The cases are currently under investigation by the National Law Enforcement Agency in Slovakia, treated as acts of terrorism because of the high number and the severity of the incidents. The perpetrator(s) of the crimes could face up to 20 to 25 years in prison if captured.

So far, there is no proven link between the multiple bomb threat cases in Hungary and Slovakia.

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Source: Magyar Hang, 444, Szon.hu, Index