Flights out and in of the Hamburg Airport in Germany have been canceled till additional discover after the authorities responded Saturday night time to an armed man who drove his car onto the tarmac and parked close to a airplane, precipitating a standoff that has continued into Sunday.
About 10 hours into the standoff, which started round 8:30 p.m. native time, the police stated that that they had established contact with the person contained in the automotive. The police had earlier stated he was accompanied by a baby passenger and that they believed the state of affairs involved a “custody dispute.”
The police stated he had pushed by a gate to get to the tarmac, however declined to say whether or not he had pushed previous any safety guards.
The person fired at the least one shot into the air, Sandra Levgrün, a spokeswoman for the Hamburg Police Division, stated in an interview posted on social media. She stated that no accidents had been reported. Two small fires have been noticed on the tarmac early on, although the authorities have been nonetheless attempting to find out if the person had set them.
Passengers aboard the airplane close to the car and different planes have been evacuated and brought to a close-by lodge, the police stated.
Video posted on social media confirmed closely armed officers escorting a bunch of passengers throughout the tarmac to a bus.
The lady who posted the video, Alina Tuider, 32, stated her flight residence to Vienna was getting ready for takeoff simply after 8 p.m. when the airplane got here to a halt.
“We noticed armed police operating throughout the sector subsequent to our airplane,” Ms. Tuider stated in a cellphone interview, including that her flight had by then been grounded for about an hour. “So we knew there was one thing occurring.”
At one level, she thought she heard a gunshot earlier than later studying in regards to the armed driver from the information on her cellphone.
Round midnight native time, police evacuated her airplane and she or he was later taken to a lodge.
In a assertion issued shortly earlier than 8 a.m., the police stated that flights would stay suspended indefinitely because the police operation continued and that most entry roads to the airport had been closed.
Jin Yu Younger contributed reporting.
