BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Belgium’s Brussels and Liege airports were closed on Tuesday evening after drone sightings, diverting many incoming planes and preventing others from taking off.
Kurt Verwilligen, a spokesperson for the Belgian air traffic control service, said shortly before 8 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) a drone had been seen near Brussels Airport, which was then closed as a security precaution.
Belgium’s busiest airport briefly reopened after two hours of disruption, but was closed again after more drone sightings. It was unclear when flights would resume.
National carrier Brussels Airlines said 15 outbound flights were unable to take off, while eight incoming flights were diverted to other airports.
Liege Airport, used principally as a cargo hub, was also closed due to drone sightings, an airport spokesperson said.
The incidents followed drones seen over a Belgian military air base during the weekend. Defence Minister Theo Francken told public broadcaster RTBF that Tuesday’s incident appeared to be carried out by professionals intent on destabilising the country.
Drones have caused considerable disruption across Europe in recent months. In September, Copenhagen Airport was closed for four hours and Oslo Airport for three hours following drone sightings. There were also suspected Russian drone incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Chris Reese, Aurora Ellis, Rod Nickel)
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