BERLIN — A hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, about 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the airport gates with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appeared to be unharmed.
The Hamburg police are dispatched to X, formerly known as Twitter, that the “hostage situation is over. The suspect had left the car with his daughter. … The child appears to be unharmed.”
Police also said that “the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance.”
The airport in the northern German city has been closed to passengers and flights canceled since Saturday night when the man, who was armed, broke through the airport fence with his vehicle and fired two shots into the air with a weapon, according to German news agency dpa. The man drove the vehicle outside the terminal building and parked it under the plane.
Authorities said the man’s ex-wife had previously contacted them about the child abduction.
Police said the 35-year-old man, a Turkish national, was carrying his daughter in the car after reportedly taking her by force from her mother in an ongoing custody battle.
A 35-year-old Turkish man has been detained by police after illegally taking his 4-year-old daughter from her mother.AP
A psychologist consulted with the man for several hours. No one was injured during the standoff after all passengers had evacuated the airport, police said.
The girl’s mother also arrived at the airport early on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, police released details on the identity of the hostage taker saying he was a Turkish citizen who had been investigated for allegedly kidnapping his daughter in March 2022, dpa reported.
The man has a history of kidnapping his own daughter in an ongoing custody battle with her mother.AP
At the time, she had gone to Turkey with her daughter without permission, but her mother was later able to bring the child back to Germany.
Police did not release the suspect’s name in line with German privacy rules.
Local media reported that the man, who parked his car next to a Turkish Airlines plane during the standoff, had demanded that he and his daughter could leave Germany and fly to Turkey.
The suspect parked his car next to a flight to Turkey and demanded to board the car with his daughter. AP
More than 100 flights were canceled and several planes were diverted during the 18-hour hostage situation. Thousands of travelers have been affected by the standoff and hundreds have been put up in nearby hotels.
Flight operations at the airport resumed on Sunday night, almost 24 hours after the hostage situation began.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher expressed his relief that no one was injured in the incident.
The flight has been canceled since his father crashed through the airport gate and ended up parking under the plane.AP
“The hostage-taking at Hamburg Airport has ended after a long and dramatic time,” Tschentscher wrote on X, thanking the police for their efforts.
“I hope that the mother, child and family are given the strength to survive this terrible experience,” he added.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
