After hostage drama: Hamburg airport returns to normality

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After the bloodless end of the hostage crisis at Hamburg airport, activities were largely back to normal on Monday. A spokeswoman for the airport in the Hanseatic city said there were still “occasional” delays. In general, air traffic is back on track.

A 35-year-old man broke through an airport entrance gate on Saturday evening with his four-year-old daughter in the car and drove onto the tarmac. There he stopped near a plane ready to take off. Witnesses reported shots and firebombs thrown by the Turkish civilian. Only after 6 p.m. on Sunday was the man arrested without resistance and handed over his daughter to the police. No one was injured. The airport had to close for the duration of the operation.

Nearly 38,000 passengers affected

As the police announced, citing the current status of the investigation, the man fell into a “mental emergency” due to a custody dispute with his ex-wife. After an argument with his ex-partner in her apartment in Stade, Lower Saxony, he fled with his daughter and drove to the airport. The woman immediately reported the incident to the local police for child abduction.

On Monday, the central office of the Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for state security crimes, took over the further investigation. But this was only done because of “the importance of the case”, as an authority spokeswoman told the AFP news agency on Monday. There is no suspicion of terrorism.

Nearly 38,000 passengers were affected by the closure on Saturday and Sunday, according to the airport. About 220 flight connections had to be canceled. 314 takeoffs and landings were planned for Monday. The airport said it planned to return to “largely normal” flight operations. (AFP)

Source: Blick