From Vienna to Hungary

Boy “flees” 400 kilometers after family dispute

The Hungarian police picked up the runaways in the center of Debrecen.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

Happy end to a (brief) missing person mystery in Austria! A runaway (14) had traveled for hours by train from Vienna to Hungary. There, at dawn, a police patrol picked up the youngster, who was wandering around alone. The reason for his "escape" is baffling ...

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a Hungarian police patrol noticed a teenager wandering around alone in the center of Debrecen. To the officers' surprise, it turned out that the 14-year-old had been reported missing in Austria. The uniformed officers immediately took the boy to the nearest police station and informed the Austrian authorities.

Simply put on a train after a family argument
The young runaway's astonishing statement: after a family argument at home, he simply got on a train and traveled from Vienna Central Station via Budapest to Hungary's second-largest city with around 200,000 inhabitants.

The Hungarian police apprehended the runaway in the center of Debrecen.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

The shortest train journey of just under 400 kilometers with two changes takes just over five hours and 40 minutes. And no one in the compartment noticed the 14-year-old traveling alone.

Foreign Ministry confirms happy ending
The Austrian Foreign Ministry in Vienna also confirmed the happy ending to the missing person case in response to an inquiry from the "Krone" newspaper: "The person is safe and well and is in the care of the Hungarian authorities. The Austrian embassy in Budapest is in contact with the relatives and the Hungarian authorities." We ask for your understanding that no further information can be passed on for reasons of data protection.

The person is safe and well and is in the care of the Hungarian authorities. The Austrian embassy in Budapest is in contact with the relatives.

Österreichisches Außenministerium

In the meantime, the parents, who were already worried sick, have been able to embrace their son again. Still missing in our neighboring country, however, are two Hungarian girls aged eleven and 14 who ran away together.