AMSTERDAM AIRPORT, NETHERLANDS – Emergency services have rushed to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. A spokesperson for the Koninklijke Marechaussee (Royal Dutch Military Police) speaks of a “suspicious situation” on board of an aircraft at Schiphol Airport, the third busiest airport in Europe.
It seems to be a hijacking of an aircraft, sources within the Marechaussee report. During boarding, the captain of the aircraft would have pressed the hijack alarm button. It’s unclear whether there is a terrorist motive. 27 passengers would have boarded the aircraft.
According to Jos van Dongen – a Dutch TV reporter from Zembla – special police teams in vehicles with blinded windows were driving with high speed towards gate D5.
It’s unclear at this moment which airline and what type of aircraft is involved.
Update:
- The NOS reports that all 27 passengers and crew have evacuated the supposedly hijacked aircraft and are safe.
- Schiphol Airport says there is a regular operation from now on at the Airport.
- The aircraft involved was an Airbus A330 from Air Europa, a Spanish Airline. The aircraft was scheduled to depart Schiphol Airport at 7:10 PM (Local Time) on a flight to Madrid Airport. Air Europa has confirmed that the incident was caused due to a false alarm.
- According to Willem Schmid from the Dutch Pilots Association VNV, there is no such thing as a hijack emergency button. The pilot probably sent the hijack emergency code 7500 accidently with the transponder from the cockpit to air traffic control.
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(Head image: Shirley de Jong Wikipedia CC-BY-SA-2.5)
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