Milan, Italy - Dramatic scenes unfolded at Milan's Malpensa Airport on Wednesday morning. A 28-year-old man terrified passengers when he first smashed the monitors of a counter in the check-in area of Terminal 1 with a hammer and then set fire to a garbage can.
The incident took place near Gate 13. High flames immediately erupted from the burning waste garbage can and thick, black smoke billowed through the hall. Panic broke out among the waiting travelers and many fled. Numerous videos of the chaos and the arrest of the man circulated on social media shortly afterwards. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.
Quick intervention prevents worse
The airport security staff and the police responded immediately. The perpetrator, who was in an obviously agitated and mentally disturbed state, was overpowered and arrested on the spot. At the same time, the fire department arrived to quickly extinguish the flames. For safety reasons, the affected area of the terminal was temporarily evacuated. However, the situation was quickly brought under control so that there were hardly any significant disruptions to air traffic and operations returned to normal shortly afterwards. The perpetrator is a man from Mali with a valid residence permit who had no previous police record. He was arrested for serious damage to property and summary proceedings have already been initiated.
