German airport diverts flights after security alert over unidentified object

German police said Wednesday that a “security related” incident involving an unidentified object found at an airport forced the diversion of flights and the deployment of a bomb disposal robot overnight.

The Bild newspaper said the object found at Leipzig-Halle airport was a drone with a detonator and possibly explosives, found near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft, but police did not immediately confirm the report.

The paper also reported that another cargo plane later collided with an unknown object in mid-air about 6km (four miles) from the airport but landed safely at Hanover airport, where minor damage was discovered on the nose section.

Police said in a brief statement that the “security related incident” at Leipzig airport involved at least one unidentified object.

A passenger plane from Mallorca as well as several cargo planes heading there had to be sent to other locations after a flying object was spotted nearby around 11.40pm on Tuesday, they said.

An object was then found near the south runway and a bomb disposal robot was sent to the site, police said.