Two Drone Incidents Disrupt Leipzig Airport

German security authorities are investigating two separate events involving drones that occurred overnight at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

An airport employee found a drone carrying an unidentified explosive device near the southern runway, close to a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane.

Federal police bomb disposal officers used a robot to examine the device before securing the drone for further investigation. The investigation has been taken over by the Federal Prosecutor General and the Saxon State Office for Security.

Shortly afterward, a cargo plane was forced to abort its landing after reports of an unidentified flying object near the runway. According to Germany's interior ministry, the aircraft later collided with an unknown object. The newspaper Bild reported that the aircraft, a DHL cargo plane, sustained damage to its front section but landed safely in Hanover.

The airport temporarily suspended overnight operations, and both passenger and cargo flights were diverted. Saxony Interior Minister Armin Schuster described the events as a “very serious security incident”. Federal and state security authorities are leading the investigation, but police said there is no immediate threat to the public.

(epochtimes, lud)