Mysteries mount in hunt for vanished Budapest teen

The 18-year-old Mátyás Egressy vanished on his way home in the early hours of Saturday. He left the Ötkert club in Budapest city centre but never reached his family home, instead spotted at various points across the city. Somehow he ended up on the Chain Bridge, though precisely what happened there remains unclear. The search presses on, yet ever more sinister clues cloud his whereabouts.

Teenager wanders Budapest’s streets

Family say Mátyás was set to study at an Italian university, where he had already secured a place, while leading an active, sporty life as a tennis player at MTK. His disappearance has left them utterly baffled.

The teenager set off from Ötkert after 2am on Saturday, but failed to return to his family house in Buda’s 11th district. The place issued a statement yesterday, claiming the young reveller slipped away “independently, without any external meddling”, with no red flags emerging to prompt intervention. The management has vowed to cooperate fully with the authorities amid the unfolding probe.

His father has pieced together his route: he dozed off on a night bus, overshot to Örs Vezér Square, then Csömör, before doubling back to Kossuth Square and the Chain Bridge. Several witnesses encountered him; they described him as disoriented, as if fleeing something.

One eyewitness, likely the last to see him so far, recounted how he was frantically searching for his phone at Örs Vezér Square, in a state of panic, his clothes muddied and clearly unaware of his surroundings. He kept repeating that it was all over and he would take his own life.

Perhaps something slipped into his drink

No one knows what befell Mátyás, but he was last seen in Pestszentlőrinc, where a large search party formed to hunt for him – to no avail on Sunday.

Meanwhile, further grim details have emerged. Chain Bridge cameras captured him ascending the structure in the early hours of Sunday, but there is no footage of him descending. Moreover, police hold a recording showing a figure plunging into the Danube at 6.30am that morning. Finally, Mátyás’s father identified his keyring at the spot on the bridge, though his brother had earlier claimed it was stolen during a mugging that took his flat key too.

Ominous signs mount

No one can explain his erratic behaviour; some speculate something may have been slipped into his drink, as it was wholly out of character. Those who met him at Örs Vezér Square said he kept insisting he needed to get home, yet couldn’t recall his own name and was so terrified he feared even those trying to help. His sister attributes this to the prior mugging, leaving him distrustful of everyone as he hunted for his phone.

Police continue the hunt for the young man, still treating him as a missing person. Yet it is ominous that his school has flown a black flag, as has the profile picture of his tennis club.

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