BRUSSELS
Reuters
—
Belgium’s Brussels and Liege airports have been closed on Tuesday night after drone sightings, diverting many incoming planes and stopping others from taking off.
Kurt Verwilligen, a spokesperson for the Belgian air site visitors management service, stated shortly earlier than 8 p.m. native time (2 p.m. Eastern time) a drone had been seen close to Brussels Airport, which was then closed as a safety precaution.
Belgium’s busiest airport briefly reopened after two hours of disruption, however was closed once more after extra drone sightings. It was unclear when flights would resume.
National provider Brussels Airlines stated 15 outbound flights have been unable to take off, whereas eight incoming flights have been diverted to different airports.
Liege Airport, used principally as a cargo hub, was additionally closed resulting from drone sightings, an airport spokesperson stated.
The incidents adopted drones seen over a Belgian navy air base through the weekend.
Defense Minister Theo Francken informed public broadcaster RTBF that Tuesday’s incident gave the impression to be carried out by professionals intent on destabilizing the nation.
Drones have triggered appreciable disruption throughout Europe in current months.
In September, Copenhagen Airport was closed for 4 hours and Oslo Airport for 3 hours following drone sightings.
There have been additionally suspected Russian drone incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace.