The police have been negotiating with the man in Turkish for more than twelve hours and assume there is a dispute over the custody of the child, probably his daughter. There is also a psychologist on site. The police say they are confident of a good outcome and call it “absolutely a good sign” that the man continues to talk to the emergency services. “He wants to talk to us and we initially assess that as very positive.”
Police say the man may have explosives. The man is also believed to have a firearm. “Our top priority is the protection of the child,” says an update on X. The girl appears to be physically fine, authorities report. According to German media, the man demands to be allowed to fly to Turkey with his child.
The man’s wife had previously reported possible child abduction to the police, the spokesperson said. According to reports, the child stayed with the mother in Stade, in the state of Lower Saxony, on Saturday. The wife has now reported to the authorities.
Police believe that the father took the child by force before driving to Hamburg and entering the airport grounds just after 8 p.m. There he allegedly shot several times into the air and threw burning bottles out of the car, he said Image. As far as we know, no injuries were reported.
The plane under which the man had parked his car has been evacuated. Air traffic was stopped and the airport was also completely evacuated. Air traffic to and from the airport remains suspended indefinitely due to the hostage crisis. The access roads are largely closed and the police ask passengers not to come to the airport.
A spokeswoman for Hamburg Airport says the airport meets all legal safety requirements. The airport has an area of almost eight hundred football fields. This means that the site is vulnerable to malicious parties who are prepared to break through the fence with considerable force, the spokeswoman said.
She emphasizes that there is a well-functioning safety system. Air traffic would also have been immediately stopped during the hostage situation. The airport would not be able to provide any further detailed information about security measures.
The airport reports that 286 flights are scheduled for today, with approximately 34,500 passengers. In some cases these have already been cancelled. Also on Saturday, flights had to be canceled and planes diverted to other airports due to the hostage crisis. There were consequences for 27 flights with around 3,200 passengers.
Tags: Hostage situation Hamburg airport ongoing armed man allegedly demands flight Turkey daughter
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