The German airport in Hamburg closed due to the invasion of an armed man with a girl as a hostage

2023-11-05 08:59:00

In what appears to be a dispute over the custody of the minor, the man has caused the closure of the terminal and the cancellation of all flights.

05 nov 2023 . Updated at 10:14 a.m.

An armed man has broken into the airport of the city ofHamburg, Germanytaking a girl hostage in what, according to investigators, seems to be a dispute over the custody of the minor and that has caused the closure of the place and the cancellation of all flights.

The man, presumably 35 years old, entered the airport around 8:00 p.m. (local time) and reached the landing strip where he fired his gun a couple of times and threw two burning bottles, a type of Molotov cocktail. , which have already been extinguished by the airport firefighters, a spokeswoman for the Federal Police has informed the newspaper. Welt and collects Europa Press.

The man’s wife, who was in Stade, near Hamburg, had previously reported to the State Police about a possible kidnapping of children, the spokeswoman said, so we are assuming a hostage situation. We assume that the background of The operation is a custody conflict, the Hamburg Police have published on their X account, formerly Twitter, shortly before midnight.

The spokesperson reported that they are currently having good contact with the perpetrator, with whom they are negotiating in Turkish and added that here we trust in a negotiated solution.

She has been positive about the fact that the discussions went on for so long: It is an absolutely good sign. He is in front of us. She wants to talk to us and we initially assess it as very positive, she has emphasized and explained that there is a special group of police and police psychologists in the place.

Passengers who were on the planes on the tarmac had to be evacuated and transferred to a nearby hotel. At the moment, the Police have no information on any injuries, including the perpetrator and the minor.

The airport’s website has said that, due to a measure by the Federal Police, it is currently not possible to take off or land, to which the airport spokesperson added that there would normally be six takeoffs between the airport’s official closure at 8:24 p.m. hours and the end of operations at 11:00 p.m. and 21 landings were expected. Some 3,200 passengers have been affected.

Filed in: Germany