70 children evacuated

Alarm bells instead of school bells: “A bad feeling”

The police cordoned off the school building on Teistlergutstraße in Linz and the surrounding area.(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

Around 70 children were evacuated from a school in Linz-Urfahr on Thursday morning because an anonymous caller had threatened them with a bomb. Teachers, police and the emergency services reacted quickly, but the parents were left with a queasy feeling. The police are now looking for the threatening caller, who spoke in the Upper Austrian dialect.

This was certainly not how the children and their parents had imagined the fourth day of this school year: At shortly after 7 a.m. on Thursday, the police emergency call received a bomb threat for the school complex in Teistlergutstraße in Linz-Urfahr - from a previously unknown person. The building - which houses a special school, the Karlhof School and an after-school care center - was immediately evacuated and a large area was cordoned off.

60 to 70 schoolchildren were already on site at the time, and a Linz AG bus took them to the nearby ASKÖ Bewegungscenter, which served as an alternative location.

Meanwhile, special forces and explosives detection dogs searched the school building until the police finally gave the all-clear at around 10 a.m.: no bomb had been found.

The schoolchildren who were already on site were taken by bus to the nearby ASKÖ exercise center.(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures, Krone KREATIV)

"There was no sign of panic"
Fortunately, no real panic had broken out around the school during the "Krone" local inspection. The police, emergency services and teachers reacted quickly and professionally. "I was naturally tense and expected to find my child frightened," says Nicole, for example, who picked up her daughter Svenja (10) after the evacuation. "But there was no sign of panic, which is great praise for the principal and the carers."

Nicole picked up her daughter Svenja (10) after the alarm and was impressed by the level-headed work of the carers.(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

A father, who wishes to remain anonymous, says: "We were just about to go into the school, but it was already cordoned off. Of course it was a bad feeling." Another mother said: "It was good that the children were brought to safety quickly."

My wife called me and said she couldn't take our son to school. Luckily I'm on vacation this week.

Roman Jungwirth, Vater eines Erstklässlers

Caller made threats in dialect
Unfortunately, threats against schools happen all the time. In March, a threat to run amok shocked the Garsten secondary school, and in May the Akademisches Gymnasium in Linz was evacuated after someone made a threat by email.

Now the police are searching for the latest threat caller. All that is known about him so far is that he is male and speaks in the Upper Austrian dialect. If he is tracked down, he will not only face charges, he will also be billed for the costs of the operation.