File image of the airport of Palma de Mallorca where members of the Guardia Civil and airport security search the runways and its surroundings after a group of passengers of an international flight between Morocco and Turkey left the plane of the Royale Air Marroc following an emergency landing at the Balearic airport on November 05, 2021. EFE: CATI CLADERA.

Migrants flee plane that was forced to land after woman faked pregnancy

Barcelona, Spain, Dec 7 (EFE).- Nearly 30 migrants attempted to flee a plane at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Wednesday after the aircraft made an emergency landing because a female passenger claimed she was going into labor.

The Turkish airline Pegasus flight traveling from Casablanca in Morocco to Istanbul landed at 4:30am to treat the woman, who turned out not to be pregnant.

As she was being removed from the plane for treatment, 28 passengers fled the aircraft and ran onto the runway in an attempt to illegally enter Spanish territory.

Security personnel managed to apprehend half of the migrants

Security personnel managed to apprehend 14 of the migrants – including the woman who had pretended to be pregnant –, while the rest escaped.

Five of those caught by the security forces were brought back to the plane, which took off again for Istanbul after the incident.

Eight of the apprehended migrants will be sent back to Morocco.

The case resembles a similar incident last year when passengers on an Air Arabia Maroc flight managed to disembark and escape down the runways of the airport in Palma, Mallorca, after one person faked a diabetes medical emergency. EFE

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