Detonation in Budapest’s city centre

Origo.hu writes that there was a detonation in Budapest, at a ground floor business-premises in the crossroad of Király Street and Teréz Boulevard late last night, at about 22:30. According to police report, two patrols of the Budapest Police Headquarters got injured. It is believed that one of them is a woman and both injuries are severe. The neighbouring flats, entertainment places, hotels were evacuated; however, the police started letting home local dwellers at Sunday dawn.

The Operational Police’s National Bureau of Investigation started an investigation against unknown perpetrators with the grounded suspicion of a homicide committed against several people. This is interesting because, as far as we know, the detonation didn’t take fatal toll. It’s more probable that the case is about a homicide attempt, but this hasn’t been affirmed by authorities yet.

Népszabadság believes that the detonation might have been caused by a pipe bomb burdened with nails. This is possible, because many people saw nails on the ground near the detonation. PestiSracok writes the same and adds that nails lodged in several cars after the detonation. However, this information hasn’t been confirmed by the police. It is also a possibility that the nails were simply kept in the unused shop.

Video of the scene after an explosion was heard in #Budapest pic.twitter.com/v9rBtYUegR

— Michael Horowitz (@michaelh992) 2016. szeptember 24.

The police keeps the Teréz Boulevard closed off between Oktogon and Wesselényi Street and they set up cordons in Király Street as well. They didn’t let anyone inside the cordons for a long time, but at Sunday dawn they started to let back those who could prove that they live there with a residence card.

Further police vans arrived to the location Sunday morning to set up cordons in an even wider circle. Two patrols of the Budapest Police Headquarters were injured in the detonation, both of them were taken to hospital. According to police.hu, the police started the going-over with the incorporation of experts and they are constantly searching for witnesses and details.

Many people were questioned by the police Saturday night and an announcement was published Sunday morning asking for the help of local dwellers. The National Bureau of Investigation asks anyone who was near the detonation or knows anything about it to call the 06-80-620-107 number or emergency numbers 107, 112.

Police pyrotechnicians and the units of the Operational Police also help in the going-over by checking the building in search of a possible detonator. There’s no information about whether they found anything yet.

Buildings that were indirectly affected by the detonation were also evacuated, the majority of the dwellers spent the night at the houses of friends or acquaintances. Those who couldn’t or didn’t want to leave were placed in calefactory buses.