Hauptbahnhof Rostock and Osnabrück closed after bomb threat

Police cordoned off main railway stations in Rostock and Osnabrück after bomb threats on Friday, railway and police said. Intercity and regional trains were cancelled or diverted.

Police in Rostock received a bomb threat by email at 11:23 a.m. (1023 GMT) and evacuated the station in the northern German city, a police spokesperson said. Police searched the station with sniffer dogs but found nothing suspicious, and the station reopened at 1:30 p.m.

In Osnabrück, in the northwest of Germany, police received a bomb threat at 1:07 p.m. and evacuated the station there. Police said they were searching the station with sniffer dogs.

Deutsche Bahn, the German railway operator, said long-distance trains between Berlin and Amsterdam, and between Berlin and Norddeich Mole, were being diverted via the Hanover-Minden route. Regional trains RE1 between Osnabrück and Bremen were cancelled.

Bomb threats in Germany

Bomb threats are relatively common in Germany, and many turn out to be hoaxes. In January, police in the city of Hildesheim evacuated a shopping mall after a bomb threat, but nothing suspicious was found.

In 2021, police in the city of Essen evacuated a school after a bomb threat, but nothing suspicious was found there either.

The German government has warned that bomb threats are a serious matter, and anyone who makes a bomb threat can be prosecuted.