Weeze in NRW
Car breaks through airport security fence – Ryanair plane aborts landing, airport locked
Police officers pass a gate at Weeze Airport in police vehicles
© Guido Schulmann / tv-Niederrhein / DPA
Because a car breaks through a fence at Weeze Airport, a passenger jet has to abort the landing and make a stopover. The airport will be closed. Then the all-clear comes: it is not an attack, but a medical emergency.
Scary moments at the airport in Weeze on the Lower Rhine: A car drove through a fence near the taxiway, preventing a Ryanair passenger plane from landing. The plane from Rome was diverted directly to Münster / Osnabrück Airport on Saturday evening, a spokesman for Weeze Airport announced on Sunday at the request of the German Press Agency. On-site flight operations were temporarily suspended.
The police moved out with a number of emergency services and vehicles because they could not rule out an attack. But the reason for the incident was a medical one, as the Kleve police announced early Sunday morning: A 59-year-old man had suffered an emergency while driving at the airport, whereupon he strayed off the road with his car and broke through the security fence at the regional airport. The car then continued to drive in a side lane of the runway until it was stopped by security forces.
Airport Weeze closed for 40 minutes
The airport had to be closed for 40 minutes from 8:30 p.m. to 9:10 p.m., as the airport spokesman reported. However, other flights were not affected. After the stopover in Münster, according to the police, the machine finally landed in Weeze (Kleve district) later in the evening. That was about an hour and a half after the planned arrival around 10:05 p.m., said the airport spokesman.
A passenger described her feelings to WDR during the aborted landing approach: “We flew to Weeze and suddenly the pilot accelerated again, pulled up and the wheels were retracted and it was scary, that was not a good experience.” According to the broadcaster, the Ryanair plane had circled the airport several times. This was reported by a reporter who was sitting in the machine.
Motorist was also drunk
In spite of the medical emergency, the driver must now expect criminal proceedings because of the dangerous interference with air traffic. A police spokesman said in the morning, however, that intent could be ruled out relatively safely. In addition to health problems, the 59-year-old was also found to have alcohol in his blood. He was taken to a hospital for medical treatment. There is no mortal danger, said the spokesman. His driver’s license was secured.