The president and vice president of the Hungarian National Meteorological Service were fired, following a wrong prediction that postponed “the biggest fireworks show in Europe”, which was due to take place in Budapest on August 20, as part of Hungary’s celebration and Stephen’s Day.
After the celebrations, the Hungarian government had announced the launch of some 40,000 rockets from 240 points on the Danube River, according to BBC News. Around two million people usually attend the celebration.
The show was eventually cancelled, seven hours before the scheduled start time, due to bad weather alerts, according to the Hungarian National Weather Service, which ultimately did not happen. The predicted storm only hit eastern Hungary.
On Sunday, the institute posted an apology “for any inconvenience” on Facebook, stating that “the least likely thing happened” and that “the uncertainty factor is inherent” in the profession.
Zoltán Kóvacs, Secretary of State for International Relations, confirmed, through the social network Twitter, that the celebrations of the national holiday will take place on August 27 at 9:00 p.m.
LAST MINUTE: The Operational Group in charge of the security of the celebrations on August 20 decided that tonight’s fireworks will be postponed until 9:00 pm next Saturday, August 27. pic.twitter.com/M6VyPUu1Fn
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) August 20, 2022
Nearly 100,000 people had already signed a petition calling for the celebrations to be canceled due to austerity and war in Ukraine.
Source: Observadora
