Police have ended a hostage taking in Den Helder in which a ‘disturbed’ woman took another hostage with a knife in the offices of the Teso ferry company.

The woman, who is thought to speak Portuguese, is ‘very emotional’, police said. A video on the Telegraaf website shows the woman with her victim shouting in English as she pulls her towards the door.

It later emerged the two women were colleagues who worked for the same cleaning company. They were on their way to clean a houses in a holiday park on Texel.

A spokesman for the company told RTL news that they have no idea what was behind the incident, which led to ferry services between Den Helder and Texel being cancelled for a time.