Just dropped on the wires.
REUTERS/GENFAX-SNAP15:14GMT
FRANKFURT AIRPORT CLOSED, BUILDINGS CLEARED AS STOLEN PLANE CIRCLES CITY-OFFICIAL
Hmm.
BC-GEN15:23GMT
Frankfurt airport closed as stolen plane circles
FRANKFURT, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Frankfurt airport was closed and tall buildings were evacuated on Sunday as a stolen light plane circled the city, Germany’s financial capital, officials said.
Gunther Schepky, head of traffic at Frankfurt airport, said there were no flights into or out of the airport as of 3:52 p.m. (1452 GMT) and that it was not known when flights could be resumed.
“The aircraft is circling round the centre of the city,” Schepky said.
REUTERS
REUTERS-GENFAX=SNAP15:28GMT
ARMED MAN IN FRANKFURT PLANE WANTS CONTACT WITH CNN-GERMAN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
222 08 intjw brl frup
URGENT
Stolen aircraft circling over German city of Frankfurt
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – An armed man stole a small airplane from an airfiled in western Germany Friday, and police said he was threatening to crash it in the city of Frankfurt.
Several skyscrapers in the country’s financial capital were evacuated as a precaution, and streets cleared in the city. A helicopter was pursuing the aircraft and trying to force it away from the city, Frankfurt police said.
MORE 051534 jan 03GMT
Plane over Frankfurt threatens to crash into ECB
FRANKFURT, Jan 5 (Reuters) – An armed man hijacked a light plane and circled Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt on Sunday while threatening to crash into the tower of the European Central Bank, the fire brigade said.
A spokesman for air traffic control said they saw no terrorist link to the hijacking of the aircraft, while Germany’s NTV television said the man had told them he did not want to kill anybody but himself.
A spokesman for air traffic control said the armed man forced a pilot to take off from Frankfurt’s Babenhausen airfield at 2:55 p.m. (1355 GMT) and had taken up contact with the Frankfurt airport tower, demanding to speak to CNN television.
CNN said it was a single-engine Cessna plane.