Munich Airport temporarily shut after drones reported in latest sightings in EU airspace

By MATTHIAS SCHRADER MUNICH AP Officials temporarily shut down Munich Airport overnight after several drones were seen in the area in the latest mysterious drone overflights in the airspace of European Union member countries Related Articles Hegseth announces latest strike on boat near Venezuela he says was trafficking drugs Israel intercepts the last boat from the Gaza flotilla as Israeli minister mocks the activists One of sufferers in Manchester synagogue attack was accidentally shot by police Trump sets Sunday deadline for Hamas to agree to a deal for ending the war in Gaza USS Arizona oil leak studied years after Pearl Harbor attack Germany s air traffic control restricted flights at the airport shortly after p m GMT on Thursday and then halted them altogether the airport declared in a comment Seventeen flights were unable to take off affecting almost passengers while arriving flights were diverted to three other airports in Germany and one in Vienna Austria Flights in and out of the airport resumed at a m GMT commented Stefan Bayer a spokesperson for Germany s federal police at Munich airport Officers were not without delay able to provide any information about who was responsible for the overflights The latest in a series of drone incidents in Europe The situation was the latest in a series of incidents of mysterious drone sightings over airports as well as other critical infrastructure sites in several European Union member countries Drones also were spotted overnight in Belgium above a military base A drone matter in Oslo the capital of Norway which is a NATO member but not part of the EU also affected flights there late last month It wasn t this instant clear who has been behind the flyovers European leadership have expressed concerns that they re being carried out by Russia though particular experts have noted that anybody with drones could be behind them Russian personnel have rejected contends of involvement including in modern drone incidents in Denmark Passengers stranded in Munich The Munich Airport noted in a report early Friday that there had been several drone sightings without elaborating Bayer the police spokesman revealed it wasn t at once clear how multiple drones might have been involved He reported police airline employees and regular people around the airport were among onlookers who revealed the drone sightings Police and fire department are on duty after drone sightings and flight cancellations at Munich Airport Friday Oct Jason Tschepljakow dpa via AP After the closure of the runways federal police deployed helicopters and other means to try to track down the drones but no signs of them could be identified Bayer reported Hundreds of stranded passengers spent the night in cots set up in terminals or were taken to hotels and blankets drinks and snacks were distributed to them the German news agency dpa published Alexander Dobrindt Germany s interior minister noted he and a few European counterparts would discuss the drone incursions and a drone detection and defense plan at a meeting this weekend in Munich We are in a race between drone threat and drone defense We want to and must win this race he commented in the western city of Saarbr cken where he joined German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony to mark the th anniversary of Germany s reunification Drones were spotted overnight in Belgium In Belgium several drones were spotted overnight above a military base near the German boundary Defense Minister Theo Francken reported Le Soir newspaper The minister did not confirm how multiple drones were flying in the vicinity of the Elsenborn military base which serves mainly as an army training facility with a firing range just after midnight Belgian masses broadcaster VRT commented that drones were spotted near the base which is roughly about miles from Munich Francken underlined that the nature of the flights was suspicious and unknown Le Soir disclosed A defense ministry examination is ongoing Anybody could be behind the flyovers Hans-Christian Mathiesen vice president of defense programs at Sky-Watch a Danish maker of a fixed-wing combat drone that is being used in Ukraine noted it could be anybody who could carry out a drone flyover like the one at Munich airport If you have a drone you can reliably fly it into restricted airspace and disrupt activity So everything from boys not thinking about what they re doing just fooling around to someone that is doing it with a purpose Criminal organizations state actors you name it revealed Mathiesen whose company is involved in the fast-evolving drone ecosystem A state actor could disrupt exercises and examine responses with a minimal level of effort he announced Agents in Russia and close ally Belarus acknowledged last month that certain drones used as part of Russia s war in Ukraine had entered the territory of EU and NATO member Poland prompting a scramble by Polish and NATO allies in which fighter jets were deployed to shoot them down This photo shows Munich Airport Germany Friday Oct Ehsan Monajati dpa via AP The drone overflights were a major focus of a summit of EU and European leaders in Copenhagen Denmark this week Administration have vowed to step up measures to minimize and thwart the threat posed by drones A Russian tanker is back at sea Separately a Russia-linked oil tanker that administration in France detained which had been suspected of involvement in the drone incursions over Denmark was back at sea on Friday The ship-tracking website Marine Traffic indicated the ship leaving the French Atlantic coast where it was detained and apparently bound for the Suez Canal A thorough search by French Navy commandos that boarded the ship uncovered no drones no drone-launching equipment and no evidence that drones had taken off from the vessel according to an official with knowledge of the study who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren t authorized to discuss it publicly The tanker s name has changed several times and it s now known as Pushpa or Boracay Its highway from a Russian oil terminal into the Atlantic took it past the coast of Denmark Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and John Leicester in Le Pecq France contributed to this document