Justice · School threat evacuationsSchool bomb threats: Hundreds affected across UK, Hungary and SerbiaAired October 19, 2026 at 8:00 PM UTCWritten October 19, 2026 at 8:07 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:07Children left their belongings behind when they evacuated their school.0:10Bomb threats disrupted hundreds of schools across Northern Ireland, Scotland,0:14Hungary, and Serbia, forcing some buildings to empty.0:17Police treated messages as hoaxes and completed searches in Hungary and parts of0:20Serbia found no bombs.0:22Who sent the threats and do the incidents share a source?0:24Lambag children left school, Edinburgh staff went home and a German examination0:29stopped in Tatabanya.0:30Pupils were also sent home around Kraljevo.0:33Those disruptions happened on Monday, October 19th.0:36But the response differed from place to place.0:38Up to 300 Northern Ireland schools reported receiving the same emailed threat.0:42Police described its wording as generalized.0:44Some schools elsewhere in the United Kingdom received that message too.0:48Schools made different decisions about whether to empty their buildings.0:51St.0:51Coleman's primary school in Lambag, County Antrim, was evacuated.0:55Pupils and staff left the building, and children went immediately, leaving0:59belongings behind.1:00The principal called the emailed threat a very serious concern.1:03The principal described a site with 400 children and 80 staff.1:06Those figures describe the school's population.1:09Evacuations also happened in West Tyrone and Derry, while schools in Strawbain1:13received emails.1:14Some county dairy schools kept operating normally.1:16Northern Ireland's Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson assessed the risk to the1:20public as low.1:21Police were investigating the emails, while the Education Authority condemned the1:25disruption and also described the messages as hoaxes following police inquiries.1:29Police said they were treating the matter as a hoax across Northern Ireland.1:34Receiving the email led to different school responses.1:37The broad police assessment didn't give families an individual search result for1:40each building.1:41Several Edinburgh schools were evacuated and staff attending an in-service day were1:45sent home.1:46That was a staff training day.1:48So an evacuated school building didn't necessarily contain classrooms full of1:52pupils.1:52Police Scotland treated the messages as a hoax.1:55Schools in East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire also received messages.1:59Specialist cybercrime officers investigated where the threats came from.2:03The Scottish response was a separate investigation from the one in Northern Ireland.2:07Police Scotland received more than 300 calls about the threats.2:10That's a measure of calls.2:12Northern Ireland's separate figure of up to 300 measures schools reporting an email.2:16The two figures describe different parts of the disruption.2:19More than 70 educational institutions were affected in Hungary.2:22Emails sent to media outlets claimed explosives had been planted at those2:26institutions.2:27Police searched schools and found no bombs.2:29The National Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation into a terrorist2:33threat.2:33That investigation examines the threat itself.2:36The searches found no evidence of planted explosives.2:38The way the emails reached the public also differed from Northern Ireland, where2:41schools reported receiving the same message directly.2:44Interior Minister Pasvai Gabor described the morning's threats as unfounded after2:48police examinations.2:50In Tarabanya, officers searched two school buildings with an explosives detection2:54dog.2:55Both searches found no bomb.2:56Arpad Gymnasium was one of the two schools searched in Tatabanya.3:00A German school leaving examination in the town had to stop.3:04Some children waited in police minibuses.3:06Police also took action in Tada and Estrogom.3:09Several Belgrade schools were evacuated in Serbia.3:12Two schools receiving threats were Branko-Radikovich Primary in Batanica and Dura3:17Danichic in the Brača Yurkovich neighborhood of Vojdovic.3:20Evacuations also affected Novi Sad and South Bochka district.3:24In the Kraljevo police jurisdiction, 21 schools received threats.3:2818 were in Kraljevo and 3 in Varnjakska Banja.3:32Pupils were sent home while police searched.3:34Around Chachak, 20 schools were evacuated, and around Subatica, 27 were evacuated.3:39The Kraljevo jurisdiction's 21 schools include both town figures within that total.3:44The 20 around Tayachak and 27 around Subatica describe evacuations.3:49Serbia's regional figures give only part of the national picture, with different3:53measures in different places.3:54Evacuations also affected schools in Prijapolye, Priboj, Novovarosh, Nish, and4:00Leskovac.4:01Schools in Bočka Polanka received threats too.4:03Interior Ministry personnel checked buildings after pupils and staff had evacuated.4:08Leskovac police confirmed searches at 30 schools across Jablanica district,4:12including 28 primary and two secondary schools.4:15Officers found no explosive devices in those buildings.4:19Threats affecting seven schools across Niesch and Alexinak were also found to be4:22false.4:23The sender's identity and any connection across the four jurisdictions remain4:27unknown.4:27Families also still need building-by-building clearance and return information.4:31Edinburgh staff and pupils around Kraljevo were sent home.4:34For many other affected schools, it isn't clear whether everyone had returned, even4:38after searches found no bombs.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗