Hamburg airport was evacuated due to an armed man entering a car in the apron. An airport spokeswoman said Saturday night that several planes had also been evacuated. According to the Federal Police, an armed man broke into a gate with his vehicle at around 8 pm and entered the airport courtyard. The man had a gun and had already fired twice into the air.
Police have already contacted the man. Negotiations will be held in Turkish, a spokeswoman said. A police special operations team and a police psychologist are on scene. According to information, the man had a four-year-old child in the car. It was unclear whether there was a second child in the vehicle, as initially suspected. His wife had already reported a possible child abduction to state police, a police spokesman said. The newspaper “Bild” reported this.
Strong state and federal police forces are at the scene, said Thomas Gerbert, a spokesman for the German Federal Police. They were close to the vehicle. This also includes the Federal Police Evidence and Prisons Unit. According to police information, there were no injuries on Saturday night.
The airport’s home page said at night: “Due to a measure by the Federal Police, takeoffs and landings are currently not possible.” An airport spokeswoman said six takeoffs and 21 landings would normally be expected between the airport’s official closure at 8:24 pm and the end of operations at 11 pm.
Hamburg airport had already been closed in October, but at that time due to a threat of attack on a plane from Tehran to Hamburg.
In July, climate activists from the group Last Generation closed Hamburg airport for hours. Flight operations had to be halted for several hours for safety reasons. Thousands of passengers, including many families with children, were affected.