Dangerous goods alarm at Berlin Airport BER leads to evacuation and delays

Police have cleared the public area of Terminal 1 at the capital's BER airport. Passengers were asked to leave the building. According to the Federal Police, a woman told the Federal Police service point that she was carrying a dangerous substance.

"With the unidentified substance, a danger could not be ruled out," the spokesperson said. For this reason, a hazardous materials alarm was triggered. He did not provide further details initially.

The airport company confirmed the incident: "Due to suspicion of a dangerous substance, the Federal Police triggered a hazardous materials alarm at around 5:45 p.m.," wrote an airport spokesperson. For safety reasons, "the public area of Terminal 1 was cleared."

Aircraft already cleared for departure were able to take off as scheduled, and approaching flights were still able to land. Passenger processing "is being moved as far as possible to Terminal 2," the spokesperson added. "The extent to which delays and flight cancellations will occur cannot currently be predicted."

Arriving passengers must wait it out at baggage claim

For arriving passengers, the situation was different: They were not allowed out of the non-public area after landing. Among those affected was WELT presenter Nena Brockhaus, who had flown from Düsseldorf to Berlin.

Passengers had been forced to wait in the baggage claim area for nearly two hours, she reported. Among those waiting were several children, some of them crying. There were no drinks provided. Security staff refused to give her any information.

Brockhaus described the conditions as "abysmal." "What BER is doing here is an absolute disgrace," she said. The airport company and the Federal Police were initially unavailable for comment regarding the situation of the arriving passengers.

Flight operations at BER were last interrupted in March of this year, at that time due to a possible suspicious flying object. It was a "pure safety precaution," the spokesperson said shortly afterward. The measure was intended to prevent a collision, but no object was ultimately found.