Spanish police have detained 11 people who participated in an unorthodox attempt at illegal immigration that brought the Palma de Mallorca airport to a standstill Friday night, according to Spanish daily El Pais.
Police have yet to comment publicly on the incident that saw around 20 people escape from an Air Arabia Maroc flight that departed from Casablanca and was bound for Istanbul.
According to Spanish media, one of the flight's passengers appeared to have entered a diabetic coma. This forced the pilot to make an emergency landing on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Once the plane landed and an ambulance arrived, a group of passengers made their escape.
They fled onto the tarmac and jumped the fence that surrounds the busy airport.
The person who appeared to be suffering from a coma was taken to hospital, but doctors reportedly found they were in good health.
Amid the drama, a person who accompanied the seemingly sick passenger on the ambulance also snuck off hospital grounds.
The police have arrested the passenger who pretended to be sick for crimes related to enabling illegal immigration.
Back at the airport, police searched for the escaped passengers. Authorities even suspended all flights to and from the busy airport for around three and a half hours Friday night.
As many as 47 flights were delayed or rerouted to destinations like Barcelona or Ibiza, according to Spain’s air traffic controller.
Police eventually found several passengers in the town of Marratxí, 13km from the airport. They have been detained and are being processed for deportation, according to El Pais.
As of Saturday afternoon, around 12 of the 20 passengers who escaped remain on the loose, and police continue their search.
