Airport operations were temporarily suspended after an unidentified drone equipped with explosives and a detonator was discovered near Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany overnight, AFP and other news outlets reported on the 5th (local time).

Local police stated that an unidentified drone was spotted near Leipzig/Halle Airport at around 11:40 PM on the 4th, leading several passenger flights from Mallorca and cargo planes heading to the airport to be diverted to other airports.

Police explained that a suspicious object was subsequently discovered near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane on the southern runway, prompting the deployment of a bomb disposal robot to the scene.

The German daily Bild reported that the object was equipped with explosives and a detonator.

Police did not disclose whether the deployed robot destroyed the object in a controlled detonation or whether the object was the same drone that had been spotted earlier.

However, they stated, "There is no danger to the general public from this incident."

Leipzig/Halle Airport resumed operations from the early hours of the 5th using only the northern runway, while the southern runway remains closed as investigations by law enforcement authorities continue.

Bild also reported that another cargo plane collided with an unidentified object in the airspace about 6 kilometers away shortly after taking off from Leipzig/Halle Airport, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Hanover Airport, where an investigation revealed minor damage to the nose section.

According to Reuters, the cargo plane belonged to international courier service DHL.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)