(MENAFN) Airports in Copenhagen and Oslo were compelled to shut down briefly on Monday evening after numerous reports of unidentified drones flying in their airspace, according to officials.

Copenhagen police stated that “three or four large drones” were spotted near the airport of the Danish capital at approximately 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) local time.

“The airspace above Copenhagen Airport has been closed since 8:30 p.m. due to the presence of two or three unidentified drones. No aircraft can take off or land at the airport,” said airport representative Lise Agerley Kurstein.

“The drones appeared to be coming from different directions,” police authority Jens Jespersen told journalists, as reported by a Danish news agency.

Airport authorities verified that the episode disrupted the journeys of nearly 20,000 travelers, causing 31 flights to be redirected and around 100 to be canceled.

“This constitutes the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen declared on Tuesday, emphasizing that the event underlined “the times we live in and what we as a society must be prepared for.”

Frederiksen associated the drone intrusion with “developments we have seen recently with other drone attacks, airspace violations, and cyberattacks against European airports,” mentioning comparable events in Poland, Romania, and the alleged entry of Russian fighter aircraft into Estonian skies.

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