Frankfurt Airport evacuated after security breach in departures hall

Frankfurt Airport has been partially evacuated after someone managed to pass into the departure lounge without going through security checks.

The company which runs Frankfurt Airport, Fraport, tweeted that Terminal 1 had been partially evacuated as a precautionary measure on Wednesday morning.

The company explained that passengers will need to be checked again before they depart.

Today at Frankfurt Airport a passenger entered the security area before the security check had been completed. 1/1

— Frankfurt Airport (@Airport_FRA) August 31, 2016

Therefore the German federal police cleared departure hall A as a preventative measure.Passengers will be rechecked prior to departure.2/2

— Frankfurt Airport (@Airport_FRA) August 31, 2016

So far, the person who had made it past security has not been found.

Airport police said on Twitter that there was no bomb threat.

Person gelangte unkontrolliert in Sicherheitsbereich. #Räumung ist vorsorglich.Keine Bombendrohung! #BPol #Frankfurt #Flughafen

— Bundespolizei Flughafen Frankfurt am Main (@bpol_air_fra) August 31, 2016

An airport spokesperson told Spiegel that there could be flight delays due to the security concern.

The man who managed to evade security is presumed to be a traveller and it is not yet clear whether he knowingly bypassed the checks.

Witnesses at the airport told DPA that passengers had been sent out of the building, and that the atmosphere was calm.

Travellers posted pictures and videos on social media of the airport terminal being evacuated.

#Frankfurt airport terminal 1 area A& Z evacuation pic.twitter.com/TxmTclXSYn

— Mina Fam  (@MinaMaged4real) August 31, 2016

German airports including Frankfurt’s have been on high alert since terror attacks in Europe, especially after the Brussels airport and metro bombings in March.

Shortly before the Brussels attacks, German police arrested a suspected jihadist at Frankfurt airport over allegations he had joined Isis and appeared in propaganda videos for the group.

Frankfurt airport is of particular security concern because it is a major international transfer hub and Germany’s busiest airport for passenger traffic.

It was also the site of an Islamist-motivated shooting in 2011, when an airport post office worker shot and killed two US airmen and wounded two others.