Fleeing passengers arrested after emergency landing in Mallorca

Twelve passengers were arrested on the Spanish island of Mallorca who fled their plane after an emergency landing. Twelve others are still wanted.

A plane from Moroccan airline Air Arabia Maroc took off from Casablanca last night for a flight to Istanbul in Turkey. Because a passenger would have fallen ill, an emergency landing was made at Mallorca airport in the Mediterranean.

As soon as the doors opened after the emergency landing, a group of more than twenty passengers took off. Among them was also the “sick”, for whom the emergency landing had been carried out. Because the passengers were walking on the runway, the airport had to close. Flights were diverted to other airports for a few hours.

Orchestrated or spontaneous?

The Spanish police managed to find twelve passengers. They were arrested. Among them was the “sick”, who was taken to hospital, but nothing was found.

Police do not yet know why the passengers fled after landing. It is also not clear whether this was an orchestrated action or whether it happened spontaneously.

Some Spanish media report that it was an attempted illegal entry into the country, but this has not been confirmed. None of the fleeing passengers sought asylum.