Defusers moved in

Jesuitenwiese evacuated after explosives alarm

The police defusing service arrived.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Major alarm at the Jesuitenwiese in Vienna's Leopoldstadt district: in the afternoon, a pedestrian came across an object resembling a pipe bomb. Whether it is actually a bomb now needs to be clarified. It is not yet clear who placed the object there. 

According to police spokesman David Pawlik, it was a passer-by who saw something suspicious lying in the middle of the Jesuitenwiese, which is so popular with families, walkers with their dogs and runners, around 60 meters from a drinking hydrant at 2 pm. The startled witness immediately called the police and raised the alarm: something that looked like a bomb was lying in the grass. 

A forensic investigation will now soon show how dangerous the object found actually is.

David Pawlik, Sprecher der Wiener Polizei

Bild: LPD Wien/B. Elbe

Investigation of the object is underway
The police defusing service arrived with explosive detection dogs and a riot unit. The area was evacuated and cordoned off in case of a possible explosion. No other suspicious objects were found and the State Office of Criminal Investigation is now investigating. A forensic investigation into the danger posed by the object has been initiated. 

Visual similarity to pipe bomb
According to information from "Krone", the object resembles a homemade pipe bomb. Who placed it on the meadow and how long the explosive-like object had been there is still completely unclear. Almost exactly 20 years after bomb maker Franz Fuchs took his own life in his cell, the discovery on the Jesuit meadow is at the very least a creepy coincidence.