Spanish police are looking for 14 people who fled a commercial plane after an emergency landing – which was forced by a woman ‘simulating’ she was about to give birth.
The Pegasus Airlines flight from Morocco to Turkey landed at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Wednesday afternoon after the woman claimed she was going to give birth.
Authorities say once the plane landed, a group of 28 people got out and “tried to flee”.
Police managed to arrest half the group, but 14 officers escaped at the airport and are still at large.
The woman, who doctors later discovered was pregnant but not due to give birth, was arrested on suspicion of public disorder offences.
Spanish authorities said five of those captured had agreed to be put back on the flight from the Moroccan city of Casablanca to Istanbul.
The others are being processed for non-admission to Spain.
Authorities say they and the woman who allegedly faked childbirth are expected to be boarded on another Pegasus flight out of the country.
The Spanish government office did not reveal the nationalities of the passengers.
A total of 228 passengers were on board the jet, which finally landed in Istanbul at 1.10pm local time (10.10am UK time) after a delay of more than three hours, according to Flightradar.com.
The aircraft involved was reportedly an Airbus A321 and the flight was a PC652.
Journalists gather at Barcelona’s El Prat airport after the incident
It comes after a similar incident over a year ago in which a group of passengers flying from Casablanca to Istanbul fled their plane on the runway of the Spanish island of Mallorca following an emergency landing under a false pretense.
Of the 24 who disembarked, 12 of them were arrested, while 12 others escaped.
