A British school in Hungary has been evacuated by counter-terrorism police after a bomb alert.

Special forces armed with automatic weapons and accompanied by sniffer dogs stormed the British International School in Budapest and escorted the children from the premises.

The school received a phone call claiming that explosives had been planted at the site at around 8.30am, a spokesman told MailOnline.

The British Embassy in the Hungarian capital is also investigating the threat with local police.

Terror: A picture posted on Twitter purportedly shows pupils and staff being evacuated from the British International School in Budapest after a bomb alert

Alert: Special forces armed with automatic weapons stormed the British International School in Budapest and escorted the children from the premises after cutting a hole in the fence

Pupils were shepherded from the grounds to a museum across the the road by TEK special forces after cutting a hole in a fence to allow them out.

One pupil told Hungarian news website News.hu: 'The fire alarm went off and everybody had to leave the building and wait at the sports field.

'Around 15 to 20 minutes later, we've been informed that someone called the school and informed them about a possible bomb in the building.

'The police arrived, they cut the fence, took the smaller students to the museum and took us to the PE room 10 minutes later, where we waited for 90 minutes.'

A search of the school found nothing suspicious, but investigations are still ongoing.

The school has more than 700 pupils aged between three and 18 from 60 nationalities and most staff are British, according to its website.

Hungary's TEK elite special forces troops secure the area after the bomb alert at the school in Budapest

A spokesman for the school said: 'The British International School, Budapest, confirms that at 8.30am it received a phone call informing of a bomb threat.

'In line with our school policies, we informed the police and immediately evacuated the school to ensure the safety of all our students and staff.

'All students and staff were moved to safe locations and the school is currently closed. All students and staff are safe, unharmed and accounted for.

'The welfare of our students and staff is our utmost priority. All threats to our school are taken very seriously.

'The police have taken charge of the situation and are currently on site investigating the threat.'

Emergency: It is believed authorities received a call claiming that a bomb had been planted at the site (above)

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office told MailOnline: 'A security alert took place at the British International School in Budapest this morning.

'The Embassy is in contact with the school and the local police.