In addition to the dozens of threats in Austria, the bomb threat against Innsbruck’s main and west station last week had a strange aftermath: as has now become known, the police overlooked the email with the warning. It went unnoticed for a few hours. By the time it was finally read, the ultimatum had long passed.
Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Klagenfurt, St. Pölten, Bregenz, Eisenstadt – and Innsbruck: a whole series of bomb threats against Austrian train stations keeps the police on their toes almost every day. Most buildings were evacuated. Not in the capital of Tyrol, where in addition to the main station, the Westbahnhof was also hit.
But why not? “That will be decided on a case-by-case basis. That was not necessary here,” the Tyrolean police said on Friday after the threat was announced on Thursday evening.
Email goes unnoticed for hours
Now the real reason has leaked out. And it’s explosive! Because: The bomb threat against Innsbruck’s two train stations, which was received by email by the state police headquarters on Thursday afternoon, was simply “overlooked”. “It was an individual, human error,” police spokesman Stefan Eder confirmed to “Krone” in a TT report.
The bomb threat email was finally noticed and read around 9:00 PM – about five hours later! The main and western train stations were then immediately searched by explosives experts and explosives sniffer dogs. “Nothing has been found. There was never any danger to people,” Eder recalls.
The ultimatum had long since passed
“The delay” was one of the main reasons why the stations were ultimately not evacuated and train traffic continued normally, Eder continues. According to the TT report, operational management made this decision because the ultimatum from the unknown author of the bomb threat had long since expired at that time.
“Internal measures taken”
“An error has occurred,” spokesperson Stefan Eder explains. We have already responded internally and taken measures to ensure that “something like this cannot happen again in the future”.
There is still no trace of the unknown perpetrator, the author of the threats. It cannot be ruled out that this is a serial offender. The state bureaus for state security and counter-extremism are investigating.
Nearly a dozen threats in Austria
Closed train stations, evacuated schools and mysterious threats: almost a dozen bomb threats have been reported in Austria in recent days. An end to this series is hardly in sight, as on Tuesday alone there were operations in Graz, Linz and Feldkirch.
This last incident also led to confusion: the police also had to arrive in Feldkirchen in Carinthia. The series started in late September and there have been similar warnings almost every day since. The targets of the threats so far have been schools and train stations.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
