A man who took a child hostage for 17 hours has been arrested at a major airport in Germany after negotiating with the police overnight and throughout this morning.
Hamburg Airport in southern Germany was closed to passengers and flights were suspended until further notice after a vehicle broke through security and fired twice into the air last night. Federal police said an armed man rammed through a gate at Hamburg Airport and entered the premises at 8.12pm local time, parking the car next to a fully occupied Turkish Airlines passenger plane.
Officers added that before the man was noticed by security forces at the airport, his wife had alerted them about a possible child abduction. Several local German media reported that the man had a child inside his car, which was described by the German tabloid newspaper Bild as an Audi without a licence plate.
According to the German newspaper, the man is understood to be a Turkish national. The child in his car was his four-year-old daughter and appeared unharmed when the hostage situation ended this afternoon, Hamburg Police said.
Bild reported that the man parked the car directly under a plane and shot in the air twice. He also allegedly threw two burning bottles out of the car, which were described by Mr Gerbert as "a kind of Molotov cocktails". According to Bild, the 35-year-old man wants to be flown to Turkey with the child.
This morning, the police said they had been negotiating with the father all night and that the situation was still the same. It said in a statement at 6.40am: "The operation continues. Our negotiating group has contact with the person inthe car. The situation remains static."
In an update released after 8am UK time on Sunday, Hamburg Airport said passengers have been asked to stay away as the police operation continues. It added: "The situation at the airport remains unchanged, the police operation continues. Flight operations will remain suspended until further notice. The police ask all passengers and those collecting them NOT to come to the airport. The access roads are largely blocked off." It was later reported that the girl's mother arrived at the airport and was receiving psychological support. A paediatrician was also on standby to look after the girl once the hostage-taking incident was over. This live blog has now ended
Hamburg Police have just confirmed that the hostage situation is over and the suspect got out of his car with the child.
They said he was arrested by the emergency services without resistance. The force added: "The child appears to be unharmed."
Hamburg Airport said in an update this afternoon that flight operations will remain suspended "indefinitely" until further notice as the police operation continues.
A total of 286 flights (139 departures and 147 arrivals) with around 34,500 passengers were planned for Sunday.
According to current status, 126 flights have already been cancelled, but further cancellations and delays are expected throughout the day.
Police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün told dpa at Hamburg Airport that there was no demand for money from the man.
She added that officers had "eye contact" with the little child and she appears to be "physically well". She said: "We are currently assuming that the child is physically well.
"This is what the eye contact we have at the moment tells us and the phone calls with the perpetrator, where the child can be heard in the background."
She added: "I don’t want to speculate about what it looks like mentally."
Planes from various airlines are parked on the apron of the closed Hamburg airport(Image: Bodo Marks/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
The mother of the abducted girl arrived at the airport and was getting psychological support, German news agency dpa reported.
“The mother naturally wants to get to her child as quickly as possible,” Malte Stueben, the head of the German Red Cross crisis intervention team in Hamburg, told dpa.
A paediatrician also arrived at the airport to look after the girl once the hostage-taking is over, according to dpa.
In a new update released this morning, Hamburg Police said they "must assume" the man has a live firearm in the car, adding that their priority is to "protect the child".
"We must currently assume that he is in possession of a live firearm and possibly also explosive devices of an unknown type," the police wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Our top priority is to protect the child. According to our current knowledge, the child is physically well," they added.
On Sunday morning, 126 flights were cancelled and five planes were rerouted.
Thousands of travelers have been affected by the standoff and hundreds were put up at hotels close by.
A police vehicle parked in front of an airplane at the airport(Image: AP)
A psychologist has been negotiating with the man for hours, Hamburg Police said.
There was no indication other people could be harmed since all passengers had evacuated the airport, they added.
Firefighters are also on standby on Alsterkrugchaussee, a major road near Hamburg Airport.
Police said negotiations with the 35-year-old man are ongoing.
Firefighters are on standby on Alsterkrugchaussee in Hamburg(Image: Bodo Marks/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
Armed police are guarding the entrances of Hamburg Airport as the operation continues.
Flights disruption will continue until further notice, an airport official said.
Heavily armed forces secure access to the terminals at Hamburg Airport(Image: Bodo Marks/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
Last night, a police spokesperson told German media officers had "good contact" with the man and added that they were hoping to find "a negotiated solution".
The police said they were positive about the fact that the discussions dragged on for so long, adding: "That's an absolutely good sign."
The police have asked passengers to stay away as negotiations with the man continue and airport operations are still suspended.
Disruption has been ongoing since last night when a number of flights were diverted or cancelled. Currently, it is not clear how many passengers are facing travel disruption.
Hamburg Police were reportedly alerted about a possible child abduction before the man was noticed by security forces at the airport last night.
According to reports, the 35-year-old is a Turkish national and the child in his car is his four-year-old daughter.
German tabloid newspaper Bild reported that the man wants to fly to Turkey with the child.
(Image: Jonas Walzberg/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
At around 7.30am, 10 hours into a standoff that started at 8.30pm local time, Hamburg police said they'd established contact with the man inside the car.
Police said earlier that he was accompanied by a child, and that they thought the situation was to do with a custody dispute.
Shortly before 8am, Hamburg Airport announced that the hostage situation "remains unchanged" and that flight operations are still suspended.
In a statement shared on their Twitter account, the airport said: "The situation at the airport remains unchanged, the police operation continues. Flight operations will remain suspended until further notice. The police ask all passengers and those collecting them NOT to come to the airport. The access roads are largely blocked off."