The news spread remarkably quickly: first, late on Friday evening, screenshots began circulating showing several aircraft circling over the north-east of the country. Then came reports that a whole series of flights due to land at Findel airport had been diverted.
Almost simultaneously, more and more videos appeared on social media, recorded in the darkness of night and showing bright dots in the black sky.
The connection was quickly made: one event was related to the other. This was soon confirmed in official communications during the night leading into Saturday.
Shortly before noon on Saturday, three members of the government – Prime Minister Luc Frieden; Mobility and Defence Minister Yuriko Backes, and Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden – also held a press briefing to provide initial updates.
Their main message was one of reassurance. They said the situation was now being analysed and that they did not want to speculate.
In the meantime, operations at Findel Airport would continue as normal, although the airport was, of course, on alert, and the authorities were also in contact with neighbouring countries.
By then, numerous videos of the drones at night had already been posted on social media, and RTL had also received some. Many members of the public saw drones on Friday evening, as had already happened once in the middle of the week, though on that occasion mainly in the Medernach area.
On Friday, however, unusual little lights could be seen in the sky in several places – not only near Findel airport, but also in the north and north-west of the country, including around Grevenknapp, Buschdorf, Brouch, Diekirch, and Colmar-Berg. This is clear, at least, from video footage obtained by RTL.
It was therefore not merely a phenomenon confined to the immediate vicinity of Findel airport.
At present, it is unknown whether these were the same drones making a wider circuit over the country, just as it remains unclear how many drones there were in total. For understandable reasons, the authorities have so far released no details.
