Passengers Flee After Morocco-Turkey Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Barcelona

A surreal scene on a flight connecting Morocco to Turkey. Following a simulated malaise by a passenger who claimed she was going into labor, the pilot of a Pegasus Airlines plane on the Casablanca-Istanbul route diverted the plane to Barcelona airport around 4:30 am, reports the Spanish agency EFE. After landing, 28 of the 228 passengers fled.

Fourteen of them were arrested while the other fourteen managed to leave the airport premises. Among the apprehended passengers, five agreed to continue their journey to Turkey with the crew’s agreement. The other eight could be deported to Morocco, their country of origin. As for the allegedly pregnant and full-term woman, she was also arrested after undergoing a medical examination, at the end of which the doctor declared that she was not pregnant.

This is not the first time that such a maneuver has been organized to allow illegal migrants to enter Spain. Last year, a plane flying between Morocco and Turkey had been diverted to Palma de Mallorca airport, where the aircraft had made an emergency landing due to the alleged illness of a passenger.