Majorca police arrest 12 passengers and search for 12 more who escaped from a plane during an emergency landing in an “unprecedented” incident, possibly related to illegal immigration, the BBC reported. The unauthorized escape came during an apparent illness of a passenger on a flight from Morocco to Turkey, and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Palma de Mallorca, one of the busiest airports in Spain.
Earlier, police said a passenger “apparently contracted a diabetic coma and was taken by ambulance to a hospital with an escort,” but was found to be in good condition and discharged. “He was arrested on suspicion of encouraging illegal immigration and violating Spanish immigration law,” a police statement said, noting that his companion had escaped.
During the evacuation around 19:00 on Friday night, another 21 passengers got off the plane and fled on the runwayCalvo said, which sparked a massive police search that forced the airport to close until around midnight. Another person was arrested for “insults and aggression” on the plane, bringing the total number of participants in the incident to 24 – most of them Moroccans, except for one, “who we believe is Palestinian,” she said. and added that the incident was “unprecedented”.