Hungarian government says pagers that exploded in Lebanon 'never been' in country

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The Hungarian government on Wednesday said that the pager devices that exploded in Lebanon "have never been in Hungary."

The remarks from government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs came after a Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo denied making the pager devices that exploded and said that those were manufactured and sold by a Hungarian company, BAC Consulting KFT, based in Budapest - which had a license to use Gold Apollo’s brand on the pagers.

"Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary," Kovacs said.

“It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary," he said.

"During further investigations, Hungarian national security services are cooperating with all relevant international partner agencies and organizations," the spokesperson added.He said that the case poses no national security risk to Hungary.

At least 21 people, including children, were killed and more than 3,000 others wounded following pager explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Lebanese health authorities.