Migrant faked diabetic coma then claimed political asylum when he got to hospital while 15 of his friends who jumped from plane and ran away when it made emergency landing in Majorca are still on the run
A migrant has faked a diabetic coma to claim asylum at a hospital in Majorca while 15 of his companions are still on the run after jumping from a plane when it made an emergency landing.
Paramedics boarded the aircraft that was diverted to Palma Airport for the 'medical emergency' and the group of Moroccans took advantage by fleeing through the open door and disappearing into the night.
The man accused of feigning a diabetic coma told medics he was fine when he got to the island's Son Llatzer hospital and a companion allowed to travel with him to the medical centre was still on the run this morning after vanishing soon after their arrival.
A migrant has faked a diabetic coma to claim asylum at a hospital in Majorca while 15 of his companions are still on the run. Pictured: authorities search the airport
Paramedics boarded the aircraft that was diverted to Palma Airport and the group of Moroccans took advantage by fleeing through the open door. Pictured: Spanish Civil Guard investigate at the airport
Around 40 incoming and outbound flights, including several international flights, are said to have been delayed
Police are treating the incident, believed to be a first in aviation history, as a well-orchestrated and ingenious coup by the more than 20 Moroccans who made it off the aircraft.
The plane, heading for Istanbul in Turkey from the Moroccan city of Casablanca, made an emergency landing yesterday evening after one one of the men on board went into an apparent diabetic coma.
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Well-placed sources said the passengers who fled the aircraft massed on an exit door as medical responders arrived to treat the 'sick' man and made their escape shortly after the paramedics had left the plane for hospital with him and his companion.
Their flight from the plane, which was initially thought to belong to Air Maroc but was being identified locally this morning as an Air Arabic Maroc-operated aircraft, led to the suspension of all airport operations for nearly four hours.
Security forces, firefighters and police searched the runways for the group who fled the plane upon landing
The man accused of feigning a diabetic coma told medics he was fine when he got to the island's Son Llatzer hospital
Spanish airports authority Aena confirmed business had been resumed in a tweet just before midnight.
It confirmed this morning 13 flights scheduled to land at Palma had been diverted - five to Barcelona, four to Ibiza, two to Menorca, one to Madrid Barajas and another to Valencia.
Around 40 incoming and outbound flights, including several international flights, are said to have been delayed.
Margot, 25, from London, told MailOnline last night: 'I'm on a plane and have been stuck on the runway for two hours as the airport has gone into lockdown.
Five flights to Barcelona, four to Ibiza, two to Menorca, one to Madrid Barajas and another to Valencia were diverted
Spanish airports authority Aena confirmed business had been resumed in a tweet just before midnight
'Just before we were due to take off it was announced that a plane flying from Morocco to Turkey made an emergency landing due to a passenger having a diabetic fit.
'As the plane landed 24 people pushed past medics and security and ran off the plane. The police are now trying to find them.'
Local reports last night said the 'fake patient' at the centre of the drama, whose age has not been revealed but is believed to be in his early twenties or thirties, had requested political asylum.
A sixth Moroccan was arrested overnight after five of the runaway passengers were intercepted earlier in the evening in the municipality of Marratxi.
Police could not be reached early this morning for an official comment.
A sixth Moroccan was arrested overnight after five of the runaway passengers were intercepted earlier in the evening in the municipality of Marratxi
The plane, heading for Istanbul in Turkey from the Moroccan city of Casablanca, made an emergency landing
Both the National Police and the Civil Guard, Spain's two national police forces, are involved in the hunt for the runaways.
Majorca is increasingly a key destination for people smugglers who help illegal migrants reach the island by boat from the likes of Algeria.
Moroccans tend to favour the Canaries route and the Straits of Gibraltar to make the dangerous sea crossing from their homeland.
In December 2017 police arrested a Moroccan OAP after discovering him trying to smuggle this 12-year-old African boy into Spain curled up INSIDE the dashboard of his car.
Officers discovered the youngster - believed to be from Guinea in West Africa - hidden in a foetal position in a pair of dirty shorts after detecting his heartbeat using a special machine.
An officer confirmed the schoolboy had been stuffed into the tiny space between the engine and the passenger of the BMW X5 after reaching into the dashboard with his hand at a checkpoint on the border between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of Melilla
Majorca is increasingly a key destination for people smugglers who help illegal migrants reach the island by boat from the likes of Algeria
It was ripped apart and the child, said to have been disorientated and suffering breathing difficulties and numbness in his limbs because of the position he had been forced to adopt, was given medical assistance at the scene.
In May 2015 officials at the border crossing between Morocco and Spain's other North African enclave of Ceuta found an eight-year-old boy in a suitcase being dragged by a young Moroccan woman.
His father Ali Ouattara, who was already in Spain and had paid to try to get little Adou across the border to join him, was later fined and handed a three-month suspended prison sentence by a court in Cadiz.
He insisted at his trial he had no idea his son was going to be stuffed in a suitcase and thought he would enter Spain illegally in a car.
Last night's mass plane escape, prompted by the allegedly fake medical emergency, is being described as a 'first of its kind' by aviation experts in Spain.
Police quizzes of the first migrants intercepted by officers will seek to ascertain whether the migrants who fled the plane had been briefed before making their bid for freedom - as officials suspect at this stage - or took advantage of the drama to make a last-minute split-second decision to abandon the aircraft and invade the runway.
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