Some phones missed the test message of the disaster warning system BG-Alert in Bulgaria

Very few people in Bulgaria received a test message on October 17.from the disaster warning system BG-Alert. The national test of the BG-alert system, which was previously postponed, was scheduled to take place today between 1pm and 1.30pm today.

The test was postponed from October 1, when the cancellation was explained with the events in the Middle East, which could have brought more tension. Despite the extra time they had to prepare, the system failed to alert a very large number of Bulgarians today.

BNT spent half an hour in a busy place in the capital to observe if people would react to the alert, but no one received the message. There was talk of another system failure.

The Ministry of Interior explained that they believe there is no problem. In order to receive such test messages, an additional setup on a smartphone is required. Citizens had to log into their phone settings beforehand and activate receiving such test messages. However, people were not warned about this.