Spanish police arrested 12 of the 24 people who made an emergency landing at Palma Airport in Majorca on Friday.
The Air Maroc flight of Arab Airlines was flying from Casablanca, Morocco to Istanbul, Turkey. At the time, a passenger claimed to be in a diabetic coma and needed emergency medical assistance. After the plane landed at 8pm, the passengers ran off the plane and entered the country illegally.
“When passengers are sick, we usually receive such emergency landing requests, and the captain thinks landing is important. What is unusual and unheard of is that we saw 21 people running on the airport tarmac,” the Spanish government in Balearic The representative of the islands, Aina Calvo, said during a meeting with officials, Majorca Daily Report.
The authorities are investigating whether the escape was originally organized or whether the passengers made a spontaneous decision after the plane landed. It is believed that the passenger who claimed to be sick pretended to allow an emergency landing.
“So far, we don’t have any data to confirm that this was a well-planned operation,” Calvo Said“We must complete the investigation, determine the cause and effect, and then decide whether certain procedures must be modified.”
A shared video shows the moment the passengers fled the plane.
Here is a video showing that the Moroccan plane landing in Palma de Mallorca is organized.Government representative of the Balearic Islands @del_illes @aina_calvo He said no. I should resign. All of this carries a counter-terrorism alert. We are helpless.It’s a shame pic.twitter.com/MgUvEOtXwp
— Jorge Campos Asensi (@jcamposasensi) November 6, 2021
The incident caused the airport to be closed for three hours and forced more than 40 flights to be delayed or cancelled. The Spanish national airport operator stated that 13 planes had to be diverted to Barcelona and other airports.
Calvo said that the persons involved have been identified from the passenger list and the arrested passengers will face deportation. They also face charges of violating aviation rules.
