By Marco Zitzow, Noel Altendorf, Jan-Henrik Dobers, Thomas Röthemeier and Max Schneider
After 18 hours, the Hamburg police were able to persuade Salman E. (35) to give up. The hostage taker was arrested, his daughter Aslihan (4) was freed and handed over to a team of doctors. The girl was taken to a children’s hospital with her mother.
“The suspect had left the car with his daughter,” the police wrote on “X”. “The man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance. The child appears to be unharmed.”
Police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün: “We are now checking to see whether there are possible explosive devices in the car.”
Hamburg’s Interior Senator Andy Grote (55, SPD): “It is thanks to the highly professional and careful approach of the Hamburg police that the hostage-taking could be ended without any injuries.” He thanks the officers and says: “Strong performance!”
The man drove his car directly in front of the plane Photo: Reuters
On Saturday around 7:20 p.m. Salman E. gained access to the apartment of his ex-wife Sevda E. (38). According to BILD information, he used a sales advert that the 38-year-old had placed on the Internet to make contact. Using a false email address, he arranged to meet his unsuspecting ex-wife and kidnapped their daughter.
Minutes later, Salman E. sped away in the black Audi. His destination: “Hamburg Airport Helmut Schmidt”, where he was spotted for the first time by security forces at 8:12 p.m.
The 35-year-old broke through a barrier and parked the Audi, from which he had removed the license plates, right next to a fully occupied Turkish Airlines passenger plane.
The hostage taker demanded to be able to fly to Turkey with his daughter. Apparently to emphasize his demand, he set several fires in the airport area. He threw two burning bottles out of the car, “a kind of Molotov cocktail,” said Thomas Gerbert, spokesman for the federal police. He also shot several times in the air.
“We currently have to assume that he is in possession of a live firearm and possibly also explosive devices of an unknown nature. Our top priority is the protection of the child. According to our current findings, the child is physically fine,” wrote the Hamburg police on Sunday afternoon.
The airport was sealed off and more than 3,200 passengers were evacuated. It is still unclear when flight operations will resume.