“According to official reports there are no Hungarians among the victims of the Berlin terrorist attack identified so far and there are also no unofficial reports of any Hungarian casualties”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Press Chief Tamás Menczer announced.
The provision of official information from Germany “is not particularly fast”, and although he does not want to criticise the Germans and understands that there is an order of importance in a crisis situation, the fact that we still have not received any official information after such a long time “raises certain questions”, Mr. Menczer highlighted. “Accordingly, on Wednesday morning the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin submitted an official memorandum to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for information on the nationality of the victims and injured”, he told reporters.
An official reply was duly received and “roughly corresponds” to the information received so far, that is that according to the official information six of the twelve victims have been identified and they are all German. Fifteen of the eighteen seriously injured have also been identified. According to the German authorities, the relative Embassy will immediately be informed if any foreign victim or casualty is identified, and the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin has so far received no such information, he explained.
“We still only have information about a single lightly injured Hungarian casualty, who left hospital on Tuesday morning”, he noted. In reply to a question, the Press Chief said that in the interests of protecting personal data he could not provide more information about the Hungarian in question.
Mr. Menczer stressed that the Ministry had also received other “non-official information by word of mouth” concerning the fact that not all of the victims have indeed been identified, but that the number of identified victims is more than six and includes no Hungarians so far. Furthermore “no signs have been found that there are any Hungarian citizens among the victims not yet identified”, he said.
According to the oral information provided, there is no information concerning the fact that any Hungarian citizens are among the victims of the attack, he said.
The Press Chief also spoke about the fact that in recent days feelings of uncertainly, worry and fear had appeared, and it would be good if these “were replaced by a feeling of peace and security”, but “people who cannot defend themselves are not safe; it’s that simple”, he highlighted.
According to Mr. Menczer, it must be stated that “only the people we allow in” can enter Europe and we must return to a state of law and order, and this has been the standpoint of the Hungarian Government from the beginning. Until this is achieved, “people will be stuck with a feeling of fear and uncertainty”, he explained.
On Monday evening, a heavy good vehicle ploughed into the crowd at one of Berlin’s most famous Christmas markets, killing twelve and injuring about fifty others, some of them seriously.