Spain: 'Migrants' flee plane after emergency Barcelona landing

The dramatic escape took place at Barcelona's El Prat airport

A group of 28 people have escaped from a plane after it made an emergency landing in Barcelona's El Prat airport in Spain, officials say.

The emergency was caused by a pregnant woman on board the Morocco-Turkey flight faking labour, they added.

Police have since caught half of the escapees, including the woman, who are assumed to be trying to enter Spain illegally.

It follows a similar incident in November last year in Majorca.

The group are said to have jumped out of the plane on Wednesday's Pegasus Airlines Casablanca-Istanbul flight as soon as the doors opened on landing.

Of the 14 captured, five were put back on the plane and the rest will be deported to Morocco.

The pregnant woman was taken to hospital, where no evidence was found that she was in labour.

She has been arrested on public disorder charges and is among the group due for deportation.

On 5 November 2021, an Air Arabia flight on the same route made an emergency landing at Palma's Son Sant Joan airport after a man had an apparent diabetic attack.

On that occasion 12 passengers escaped and 12 were captured. Almost all were Moroccan citizens.

That incident raised serious questions about airport security and migrant routes in Europe, and there was speculation that this method of entry into Europe - nicknamed patera aérea or air boat by some Spanish media - may have set a precedent.

In recent years, tens of thousands of African migrants have attempted to cross the Mediterranean to the Spanish mainland and Balearic Islands, or the Atlantic to the Canary Islands.