Hamburg, 5 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) — Police in the German city of Hamburg continue to negotiate with the armed man who drove onto the apron of Hamburg airport where he is holding his four-year-old daughter hostage, a police spokeswoman told dpa early on Sunday.

According to police, an armed man broke through a gate with his vehicle at around 8 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday and drove onto the airport apron with a child passenger in the car. He had a gun and fired it twice into the air, according to federal police spokesman Thomas Gerbert.

Airport terminal buildings have been evacuated, along with several aircraft, and the airport remained closed early on Sunday morning.

There's no indication that anyone has been injured so far, including the perpetrator and the child, according to a police spokeswoman late on Saturday.

At the time, police no longer saw any acute danger to third parties. The Turkish Airlines aircraft under which the man had parked his car was evacuated, a police spokesman told dpa.

Police believe that a custody dispute may be the reason for the violent intrusion.

According to the information available so far, the child had been staying with her mother on Saturday. Police say they believe that the father, believed to be 35 years old, "took the child away" from the mother, possibly forcibly, before driving to Hamburg and onto the airport tarmac.

A special police task force and police psychologist were at the scene.

The man's wife, who is said to have been staying in the city of Stade near Hamburg at the time, had previously contacted the state police about a possible child abduction, according to a spokesman for the federal police.

She has since travelled to Hamburg to the vicinity of the airport, a police spokeswoman said early on Sunday.

Police continued to negotiate with the man overnight after having first established contact late on Saturday. Negotiations are being held in Turkish, according to a police spokeswoman. "We are focussing on a negotiated solution," she told dpa.

It was "an absolutely good sign" that the talks were dragging on for so long, she said. "He's turned towards us. He wants to talk to us and we see that as a very positive thing."

There was still no breakthrough as of 5 am on Sunday.

A heavy police presence remains on site, according to a dpa reporter at the scene.

Flight operations would be suspended indefinitely due to the hostage situation, the airport announced early on Sunday. "There will be flight cancellations and delays throughout the day," it added. The police are asking passengers not to travel to the airport for the time being.

According to a police spokesman on Saturday evening, 3,200 people were affected by the evacuations.

In October authorities closed the same airport due to an attack threat on a flight from Tehran to Hamburg.

In July, climate activists from the Last Generation group paralysed the airport for hours. Flight operations had to be suspended for several hours for security reasons. Thousands of passengers, including many families with children, were affected.