Some 28 migrants fled a plane that made an emergency landing in Barcelona on Wednesday when a pregnant woman pretended to go into labor during a flight from Morocco to Turkey.
Spanish government sources told Reuters that after landing at El Prat airport the woman was examined at a hospital, and there were no signs of any obstetric emergency.
The police were able to arrest fourteen of the people who were traveling on the Turkish Pegasus Airlines plane and escaped upon arrival in Barcelona, while the search continues for fourteen others.
⚠️ Desviado a Barcelona un Airbus A321Neo de la aerolínea turca Pegasus que cubría la ruta Casablanca-Estambul. pic.twitter.com/DkBwOLTvMc
— AeroBarcelona News (@AeropuertoBCN) December 7, 2022
The plane was carrying a total of 228 passengers from Casablanca to Istanbul, where it landed at 13.10 local time (1010 GMT) after a delay of more than three hours, according to Flightradar.com. Five of the detained passengers were able to continue their journey and eight others were detained at El Prat, from where they would be deported to Morocco.
Just over a year ago, a group of passengers from Casablanca to Istanbul fled their plane to the tarmac on the Spanish island of Mallorca after another emergency landing prompted by a false premise and 12 of them were detained, while 12 others escaped.
