GERMAN police advised travellers on Sunday not to use Hamburg airport due to a developing hostage situation.
The airport, in the northern part of the city, has been closed to passengers and flights since Saturday night when an armed man broke through a gate with his vehicle and fired a weapon twice into the air, according to German news agency dpa.
Authorities also said the man’s wife had previously contacted them about a child abduction.
Police said the 35-year-old man had his four-year-old daughter inside the car after reportedly taking her from her mother by force in a possible custody battle.
A psychologist has been negotiating with the man for hours and there is no indication that other people could be harmed because the airport has been evacuated of all passengers, police said.
“We must currently assume that he is in possession of a live firearm and possibly also explosive devices of an unknown type,” 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.
Hundreds of people whose flights could not depart on Saturday night because of the situation were put up at hotels nearby.
Arriving planes were either re-routed to other German airports or cancelled.
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