On Wednesday morning, a Pegasus Airlines flight from Morocco to Turkey did an emergency landing at the El Prat airport in Barcelona, Spain after a pregnant lady reportedly feigned going into labor.
Authorities in Spain are searching for 14 passengers who fled from the flight after it had to land in Barcelona, and tried to avoid customs and passport control.
Officials reported that at least 27 individuals abandoned the plane without permission after it landed and “tried to flee.” Police stopped 13 of them and five of the fugitives who were apprehended by police were put back on the aircraft to fly to Istanbul, Turkey. According to authorities, the remaining eight people were being processed for non-admission from Spain and will likely board another flight out of Spain.
A video was posted on Twitter of what seemed to be passengers attempting to escape the police by rushing from the aircraft onto the runway at Barcelona Airport in Spain.
According to its website, Turkey’s low-cost Pegasus Airlines operates 82 international flights to 44 different countries. With 228 people on board, the Pegasus Airlines flight was making its way from Casablanca, Morocco to Istanbul, Turkey. After physicians established that the lady who was believed to be in labor was not about to give birth, she was taken into custody on charges of public disorder.
This is believed to be the second time an incident like this happened in a little over a year that involves a flight from Morocco to Turkey. Last year, on a flight from Casablanca to Istanbul, a similar situation took place and 12 people were detained on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration after passengers abandoned the aircraft after an emergency landing on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The passenger who pretended to have a diabetic attack caused the plane to make an emergency landing in Mallorca, and he was among those detained. 12 people escaped. All but one were thought to be Moroccans.
These incidents indicate elaborate schemes to enter Spain by would-be migrants from Morocco.