HAM Evacuated Over Noxious Substance in AC System

Traffic to and from Hamburg’s airport was temporarily halted and hundreds of travelers evacuated on Sunday after an irritant was released via HAM’s air conditioning system.

Hamburg Airport (HAM) was evacuated on Sunday afternoon after more than 60 people complained of irritated eyes and breathing problems around 12 noon local time.

The local fire service swiftly evacuated the terminal while ambulance crews examined and treated passengers. The Guardian reports that at least nine people received hospital treatment as a result of the incident.

The paper reports that air traffic to and from the facility was halted between 12:31 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. local time. Stefanie Harder, a spokesperson for HAM, confirmed to the paper that as many as 13 flights were affected by the airport’s brief closure. Some were unable to depart the facility and others were left to circle above HAM while two were diverted to the nearby city of Bremen.

The incident also resulted in the temporary closure of the airport to all road and subway traffic. It is estimated that as many as 1,500 travelers were affected by the closure, with those evacuated from the terminal having to wait outside in freezing temperatures.

German authorities are adamant that this was not a terrorist attack. In a news conference, Torsten Wessely, the spokesperson for Hamburg’s fire department, was quoted by Reuters as saying, “I want to explicitly deny […] that this was a terrorist attack. As far as we know it was at no period considered a terrorist attack.”

“A pepper spray-like canister has been found during our investigative searches which might be the source,” he added. The city’s fire services believe that it is possible that a pepper spray canister, which had been discarded in a bin outside of security at HAM, might be the source of the toxin.

It is believed that noxious emanations from the canister may have been picked up and disseminated by the facility’s air conditioning system, thus affecting scores of passengers within the terminal.

Flights resumed from the airport at 1:45 p.m. local time.

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