Mallorca police arrested 12 passengers and were seeking 12 more Saturday who fled a plane during an emergency landing in an “unprecedented” incident possibly linked to illegal immigration, officials said.
The unauthorised exodus followed a passenger apparently being taking ill on a flight from Morocco to Turkey, with the plane forced to stage an emergency landing at Palma de Mallorca, one of Spain’s busiest airports.
“Twelve people have been arrested and 12 more have yet to be found,” Aina Calvo, the Spanish government’s representative in the Balearic Islands, told a news conference.
The incident took place on an AirArabia flight from Morocco to Turkey, which was re-routed to Palma on Friday, due to a medical emergency.
Police earlier said a passenger “apparently suffered a diabetic coma and was taken by ambulance to hospital with a companion” but on arrival was found to be fine and discharged.
“He was arrested on suspicion of encouraging illegal immigration and violating Spanish immigration law,” a police statement said, noting his companion had fled.
Aquí tenéis el vídeo que demuestra que el aterrizaje del avión marroquí en Palma de Mallorca estaba organizado. La delegada del gobierno en Baleares @del_illes @aina_calvo dice que no. Debería dimitir. Y todo esto con alerta 4 antiterrorista. Estamos indefensos. Es una vergüenza pic.twitter.com/MgUvEOtXwp
— Jorge Campos Asensi (@jcamposasensi) November 6, 2021
During the evacuation, another 21 passengers got out of the plane at around 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Friday evening and ran onto the runway, Calvo said, prompting a massive police search that forced the closure of the airport until around midnight.
Another person was arrested for “insults and aggression” inside the plane, raising to 24 the total number involved in the incident — most of them Moroccans except for one “who we believe is Palestinian”, she said, adding that the incident was “unprecedented”.