The health centre of the Hungarian army and the national ambulance services held a joint exercise on Tuesday morning which involved a fictitious explosion in Budapest.
Defence Minister István Simicskó said after the event that Hungary is one of the safest countries in Europe but continuous efforts are needed to preserve this status every day. In many countries, terrorism has become part of reality and the Hungarian government condemns Brussels policies that resulted in “importing terrorism” together with migrants, he added.
In line with the scenario of the exercise, an explosion took place in the Lehel Square underpass in Budapest’s 13th district on Tuesday morning and the ambulance services received nearly a hundred emergency calls within an hour.
Ambulance vehicles had to be called to the scene from several districts and a total of 28 injured persons were taken to hospital, the defence ministry said in its description of the fictitious situation.
In reality, the exercise only affected the military hospital of Budapest while the nearby metro underpass and its neighbourhood were not involved.
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