The hostage taking of a four-year-old girl at Hamburg airport is still ongoing on Sunday afternoon. According to the latest information from the police, the hostage taker’s daughter appears to be physically fine. The father may have explosives.
The Turkish man has been holding his daughter in a car under an airplane since Saturday evening. He is also said to be armed. The airport has since been evacuated. According to the police, this is a custody dispute and there is no danger to third parties.
Air traffic to and from the German city has been suspended indefinitely. The police ask travelers not to come to the airport. Access roads are largely closed and the airport expects cancellations and delays throughout the day.
286 flights with approximately 34,500 passengers are planned for Sunday. Some of these have already been cancelled.
On Saturday, the armed man drove his car onto the airport. He parked the vehicle under an aircraft, which was then cleared. His daughter is in the car with him.
Police and psychologist negotiate with the father
Special police units and a psychologist negotiate in Turkish with the man, who is said to be 35 years old. His wife previously reported her kidnapping, police said. According to BILD the hostage-taker demands a flight to Turkey for him and his daughter.
The police are confident that there will be a good outcome, because the man continues to talk to the emergency services. “He wants to talk to us and we initially assess that as very positive.”
Krijg meldingen bij nieuws over Duitsland
Father is said to have kidnapped daughter by force
Due to the report, the police assume there is a dispute over the custody of the child. According to reports, the four-year-old girl stayed with her mother on Saturday in Stade, a city in the state of Lower Saxony. Police believe the father took his daughter by force before driving to Hamburg and entering the airport grounds just after 8 p.m.
He then shot twice into the air and threw burning bottles out of the car. The man is also said to have set several fires in the area surrounding the airport.
0:43Emergency services respond en masse to hostage situations at Hamburg airport
The post first appeared on www.nu.nl