Hamburg airport resumes operation after suspicious toxin-triggered suspension

The airport in northern Germany city of Hamburg has resumed operations after it was temporarily suspended for several hours due to suspicious toxin found earlier Sunday, the airport authorities said.

The unknown toxin was reportedly spread through the air conditioning system of the airport, which left dozens of people injured, including some airport staff.

All flights were stopped for several hours as firefighters evacuated hundreds of passengers.

A federal police spokesman said a strong odor appeared in the control center, where hand luggage and passengers were checked, and many travelers had complained about irritation cough.

About 50 people were reportedly injured. The fire brigade set up temporary treatment centers outside the airport for the injured, some of them may be brought to hospital if necessary.

An unknown number of flights have been affected or redirected to other cities. The access roads to the airport were once blocked and the S-Bahn traffic, a rapid transit railway, to the airport was interrupted.

So far there is no further reports about what the suspicious toxin is.

source: Xinhua