A family dispute over the custody of their daughter is holding all air traffic at Hamburg airport in Germany in check. The airport is still closed after the alleged kidnapping of the 4-year-old girl by her father. Around 8pm last night, the armed man – a 35-year-old resident of Lower Saxony – entered the airport in his car, an Audi, without license plates, breaking through a gate, shooting twice in the air and throwing two fiery bottles, a type of Molotov cocktail. He then stopped in front of a Turkish Airlines plane, and from there negotiations with the authorities began. The wife had previously contacted the police to report the child’s kidnapping.
The man allegedly asked the authorities to be allowed to go to Turkey with his daughter. In the meantime, he has informed the airport management, the police operation continues and traffic remains suspended. “We have mobilized police psychologists and are talking to him, hoping for a negotiated solution,” police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrun told regional public television channel NDR. In her opinion, it is an “excellent sign” that her father has remained in contact with the authorities “for so long”.
On Saturday evening, 17 scheduled flights in Hamburg had to be diverted, with 3,200 people on board. 286 flights were scheduled for Sunday, with 34,500 passengers.