Frankfurt Airport evacuated after family not security checked

Part of a terminal at Frankfurt Airport was evacuated after a French family that had not completed required security checks were allowed into a secure area.

Federal police stopped flights from boarding and kept passengers out of area A of the airport’s terminal 1 for about two hours due to concerns that at least one person had entered without being properly screened.

Police said on Twitter that the midday evacuation was prompted by a security assistant mistakenly allowing the French family of four into the secure area even though they were supposed to be subject to a secondary screening.

The family was located, questioned and allowed to continue on its journey, the police added.

The terminal resumed operating as normal about two hours after the partial evacuation was imposed.

It was not immediately known how many people were affected by the precautions.

Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, said around 7,000 passengers were affected by flight delays and cancellations and that it had booked 2,000 hotel rooms as a precaution in case people could not be put on later aircraft.

It also said that some flights had to leave Frankfurt empty so that they would be at their destination airports at the right time to keep on schedule.

It gave no estimate of the cost to the airline.