Horror at a German airport: 4‑year-old girl remains a hostage

On Sunday, police confirmed that a 35-year-old Turkish-origin man from Lower Saxony continues to hold his 4-year-old daughter hostage in a car at Hamburg airport. The armed man intended to escape to Turkey with the child on Saturday evening. Thus far, negotiations have been unfruitful, and airport traffic has been suspended.

The man, brandishing a gun, crashed his car into the gate of the Helmut Schmidt airport in Hamburg around 8 p.m. on Saturday, driving directly onto the aircraft parking strip. He stopped beside a Turkish Airlines passenger plane that was gearing up for takeoff, as reported by the "Bild" newspaper portal.

Police spokesperson, Sandra Levgruen, stated that "passengers were on this airplane, but they were evacuated".

The man had driven an Audi – without license plates - onto the airport premises with his 4-year-old daughter inside. He had planned to take her to Turkey with him.

Throughout the night, the police engaged in negotiations with the man. On Sunday morning, it was announced that "the situation remains static", implying no changes. The negotiations were conducted in Turkish.

The "Bild" portal reported that the man managed to start a few fires at the airport overnight, necessitating intervention from the airport fire department. "He threw two burning bottles like Molotov cocktails out of the car", informed Thomas Gerbert, the police federal spokesman. Due to the risk of the Audi driver attempting to start another fire, the fire department damped the plane with water for precaution.

Operations at the airport are still suspended "for an indefinite period", Hamburg airport authorities affirmed via platform X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday morning.

Shortly before the man's breach of the airport premises, his wife alerted the police. "During her emergency call, she warned police officers that her husband was rushing to the airport — with a child", the "Bild" portal reported. The woman revealed that her husband had kidnapped their child on Saturday evening.

The likely root of the incident seems to stem from a custody dispute. Initial media reports indicated two children in the car of the 35-year-old man.