Duesseldorf (Germany), Sept 14: The international airport in the western German city of Duesseldorf was evacuated today following "several" bomb threats, affecting tens of thousands of travellers, authorities said. Air traffic in and out of the airport was brought to a halt around midday (0330 IST) and all three terminals were evacuated, said a spokesman in Duesseldorf for the federal border police, which is responsible for airport security.

Officers with sniffer dogs were inspecting the building.

A spokesman for Duesseldorf Airport, which serves a large swath of Germany's most populous state, north Rhine-Westphalia, said the threats had been received in the late morning and judged by police to be serious enough to justify the evacuation. "Flights are being redirected to other airports in North Rhine-Westphalia," airport spokesman Torsten Hiermann said on rolling news channel NTV, adding most were being sent to the nearby Cologne/Bonn Airport.

"Now we are waiting to see how the situation develops."

The school summer recess came to an end today in North Rhine-Westphalia and many families were returning home after vacations. The spokesman said some 64,000 passengers were expected to pass through the airport today.

Bureau Report