Spanish authorities arrested 12 people who were part of a group of 21 passengers who fled a plane after the plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Palma airport on the island of Mallorca, the state news agency reported. EFE.
The incident occurred on an AirArabia flight from Morocco to Turkey, which was redirected to Palma on Friday (5) due to a medical emergency.
According to the EFE, one of the detained passengers pretended to be in a diabetic coma to facilitate the escape of another 20 people. When the plane landed, the group fled the plane and ran down the runway, Spanish government delegate in Palma, Aina Calvo, told reporters.
A video shared by Jorge Campos, leader of the far-right VOX party in the Balearic Islands, shows several passengers fleeing an AirArabia flight after the plane landed at the Spanish airport in Palma de Mallorca.
“It’s common for us to receive this type of emergency landing request when a passenger is sick and the captain decides it’s important to land. What is unusual and unprecedented is that we see 21 people running on the airport runway,” said Calvo.
Palma de Mallorca airport was closed briefly and 13 flights were redirected before operations resumed at 11 pm on Friday, said AENA, which manages the site.
Here is the video that shows that the Moroccan plane landing in Palma de Mallorca was organized. The government delegate in the Balearic Islands @del_illes @aina_calvo he says no. I should resign. And all this with an antiterrorist alert. We are helpless. It is a shame pic.twitter.com/MgUvEOtXwp
– Jorge Campos Asensi (@jcamposasensi) November 6, 2021
“The airport in Palma is operating normally, but the feeling is general: what happened cannot be repeated and it is necessary for the responsible authorities to review their protocols to guarantee the safety of all”, said the governor of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol , in a tweet.
Daniel Zamit, a spokesman for USCA, the Spanish Air Traffic Controllers Union, called the incident a “serious breach of security” and said that the protocols in place would be revised, in an interview with Spanish broadcaster TVE.
AENA and the Spanish authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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