A school trip to the United Kingdom quickly turned into a nightmare for eight teenagers who hail from a small town in southern Slovakia, when the organizer decided that they would not be boarding the bus to go home. While the rest of the students continued on their journey, six girls and two boys aged between 15 to 17 years chose to stay behind in Forbach, which is a sleepy border town in the northeast of France that neighbors Germany.
The students attended the Hungarian-language Szondy György Gimnázium in Šahy, a community often called Ipolyság by its Hungarian-speaking residents. On the final night of the return trip, they stayed at a transit-style hotel. According to the organizer, several students went into the hallway around 1:30 a.m., banged on doors, and made noise that woke other guests. Some guests reportedly threatened to call the police. The organizer said the teens laughed off a warning that their behavior grades could suffer and claimed to have video of the scene.
Six students were identified as the main participants. Two others stayed “out of solidarity,” even though they had not been accused of joining the disturbance. One teacher, Gábor Viczencz, remained with the group. The rest of the party left by bus the next morning.
Parents later reported that the departure of the bus was confusing and frightening for their children.
“When the bus drove off, they thought it was a joke. Half an hour later, it dawned on them… that they would not return to collect them,”
One mother, Klaudia Uhor, told reporters in Slovakia. She further noted that the children’s travel insurance was due to expire at midnight.
Families quickly arranged and paid for alternative transportation. The eight teens and their teacher traveled from Forbach to Frankfurt, then to Vienna, where a privately hired bus from Šahy collected them for the final leg home. The multi-leg trip stretched roughly a day. One father, Richard Segeč, told local media there had been “no alcohol, no drugs, nothing like that.”
Parents signed the pre-trip agreement that allowed the organizer to exclude the participants in case of a serious breach of discipline, with parents bearing all expenses related to bringing the children home. The organizer insisted that she had done just that according to the agreement. However, parents saw this decision as unreasonable and have filed a criminal complaint. The lawyer representing the parents, Miroslav Chromý, argued that it was too soon to consider it a criminal case or any other breach of terms.
