air traffic at Hamburg airport still blocked by hostage situation

Traffic at Hamburg airport was blocked on Sunday November 5 by a hostage situation on the tarmac, after the alleged kidnapping of a child by his father as part of a family conflict, according to local authorities. Saturday evening, around 8 p.m., the armed man drove his car through an airport gate and entered the tarmac, shooting twice in the air and throwing two burning bottles out of the passenger compartment, said a police spokesperson. The latter says she believes that a “dispute concerning the custody of a child is at the origin” of this incident. According to her, in the car there are a father and his child.

The wife of the driver of the car had alerted the police to the child’s kidnapping, a police spokesperson said. “We have mobilized police psychologists and we are currently speaking with the perpetrator, we are banking on a negotiated solution here”, police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün told regional public television channel NDR. She described as “very good sign” that the father of the family remained in contact with the authorities “for so long”.