Hungary's Weather Officials Fired After Wrong Storm Forecast Forced Cancellation Of Fireworks Display

The two top officials of Hungary's meteorological service were fired Monday after an inaccurate weather forecast resulted in the postponement of a fireworks display that was supposed to take place on the country's most important national holiday.

Laszlo Palkovics, the country's technology and industry minister, announced in a brief statement the dismissal of Kornelia Radics, the president of Hungary's National Meteorological Service (NMS), and the agency's vice president Gyula Horvath, the Associated Press reported.

Palkovics did not provide a reason for firing Radics and Horvath, who served in their positions since 2013 and 2016, respectively, according to the outlet.

Hungary's government-aligned media reportedly criticized the NMS as they claimed the service's "gravely wrong" forecast caused the needless postponement of the fireworks show for Saturday's celebration of St. Stephen's Day, a holiday that marks the country's founding.

The annual display along Budapest's side of the Danube River — billed as the largest in Europe — was called off in the afternoon based on forecasts that claimed extreme weather was likely to appear around the fireworks show's 9 p.m. start time.

While the storms did not materialize in the Hungarian capital in the end, the fireworks display, which typically draws more than a million spectators, had already been rescheduled for next week due to safety concerns.

The NMS issued an apology on its Facebook page Sunday.

"Of the results at that time, the least likely happened. Unfortunately, this uncertainty factor is part of our profession, we have tried to communicate this as well. We apologize for any inconvenient matter," the service wrote.

In another statement posted Tuesday, the NMS called out the "malicious" reports against the service and demanded the reinstatement of its dismissed heads.

The agency, which described coming under "a serious amount of political pressure," also asked for an independent investigative committee to provide an explanation of the service's activities, decisions and methods related to what happened Saturday.

"It is our firm position that the colleagues of the [NMS] provided the best of their knowledge despite significant pressure from decision-makers and are not responsible for any perceived or real damage," the service said in its statement, which was given on behalf of several of the service's officials.

Palkovics did not immediately respond to AP News' request for comment.

The government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of corruption, nepotism and anti-democratic tendencies.