The armed man who broke through security at Hamburg Airport in Germany on Sunday, holding his 4-year-old daughter hostage, has been arrested as police managed to resolve the hostage situation and rescue the girl unharmed.
The situation at the airport became tense after the armed man who broke into the premises fired twice into the air with a weapon, according to federal police. The man drove the vehicle just outside a terminal building and parked it under a plane. Soon after the incident, the airport was closed and several flights since Saturday night were cancelled.
Police said that the 35-year-old Turkish citizen had his daughter inside the car after reportedly taking her by force from the mother in an ongoing custody battle. A psychologist had been negotiating with the man for several hours.
However, no person was injured in the standoff after passengers were evacuated and the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance, said the police. The mother of the girl also arrived at the airport.
In the evening, police revealed details about the hostage-taker, who was a Turkish citizen already under investigation for allegedly kidnapping his daughter in March 2022. At that time, he had traveled to Turkey with his daughter without authorization, but the mother was later able to bring the child back to Germany.
During the standoff, the man reportedly demanded that he and his daughter be allowed to leave Germany and fly to Turkey. The situation caused over 100 flights to be cancelled and other planes to be re-routed.
Federal police spokesman Thomas Gerbert told dpa that a large number of officers from state and federal police were on the site and in the vicinity of the vehicle.
Flight operations at the airport resumed on Sunday night, almost 24 hours after the hostage situation began. Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher expressed relief that nobody was injured in the incident.
(with inputs from AP)
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