Anonymous bomb emails lead to evacuation of about 50 schools in Italy

On Monday, October 19, about 50 school buildings in various Italian cities were evacuated after receiving anonymous email messages claiming that there were bombs inside them.

The alarms were reported in the provinces of Verona, Padua, Arezzo and Lucca, as well as in the city of Chieti. Police and specialized teams checked the buildings to verify whether there were explosive materials.

The first evacuations began in the morning in the province of Verona, where 27 buildings were emptied, from kindergartens to secondary schools. The precautionary measure was taken after a suspected threat sent by email, which, according to preliminary data, may have been written in Arabic.

Parents were asked to pick up their children. Students were initially placed in school gyms and then sent home.

Later, alarms also appeared in the province of Padua. Among the evacuated facilities were the Rodari school in Padua, the Newton institute in Camposampiero and the Vivaldi school in Montegrotto Terme. Police anti-sabotage units and carabinieri completed checks without finding explosive devices.

In Arezzo, the Vasari high school was evacuated, with about 600 students and staff members inside. The decision came after a report of a possible bomb.

The alert was given at 10:53 and, according to preliminary information, this case also involved an anonymous email. Firefighters, carabinieri and health services arrived at the scene, while the emergency plan for large-scale situations was put into effect.

Students were sent to a public park near the high school, where they waited for family members.

A few minutes later, another alarm was recorded in the province of Lucca. There, 11 school buildings belonging to the same institution in the Oltreserchio area were evacuated, after an anonymous email claimed that there was a bomb in one of the buildings.

In Chieti as well, eight buildings of Comprehensive Institute No. 4 were evacuated, where a total of about 1,000 students were enrolled.

The affected buildings included the Mezzanotte and Ortiz middle schools, the elementary schools in Villaggio Celdit, Selvaiezzi and Bosio Street, as well as the kindergartens in Villaggio Celdit, Madonna delle Piane and Selvaiezzi.

The notice in Chieti is suspected to have arrived by anonymous email, addressed to school administrators.

The municipality of Chieti announced that it had not issued an order for the general evacuation of schools in the city. According to available information, there were no indications of a real danger.

By the conclusion of the reported checks, no explosive devices were found in the schools mentioned. Meanwhile, investigations continue to uncover the origin of the anonymous messages and the people responsible for sending them.