Explosive-laden drone: police search northern runway at Leipzig Airport
The investigation is ongoing following the discovery of the explosive drone. Many police officers are deployed on the northern runway and are searching the area on foot.
Leipzig. After the drone incidents at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a hundred-strong police force is searching the area at the northern runway. The deployment forces are moving on foot in a chain, as a reporter from the German Press Agency observed. A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed that measures are taking place on the airport premises in connection with the authority's investigations.
What exactly is being searched for remained initially open. Due to the search measures, the north runway has been closed since 10:00 a.m., a airport spokesman announced. Passenger flight traffic is not affected. The area had already been searched on Thursday. Previously, the Saxony State Criminal Office (LKA) had announced that the search for the second - still unknown - flying object involved in the incident should be continued.
The investigations were triggered by the discovery of a drone with an explosive device on the southern runway in the night leading up to Wednesday. Shortly later, a second flying object collided with a cargo plane that could not land due to the closure of the north runway and had to take off again. After being diverted to Hannover, minor damage was found on the plane.
According to information from security circles, the explosive drone discovered on the south runway was located near a Ukrainian transport plane of the type Antonow AN-124 Condor. Specialists from the Federal Police defused the explosive device.
More: Was it Russia? How could the drone penetrate so far? Leipzig, a flying bomb - and many questions.
Translated by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report; automated translation may contain errors. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
