The mechanic who had to fix an emergency door of the Air Arabia Maroc flight in which passengers escaped at Palma airport has appeared before the judge investigating the case in Palma. The mechanic was summoned after a group of passengers opened and left the hatch unusable when the plane was on the ground after the emergency landing due to the alleged diabetic crisis of one of the passengers. According to the crew, a group of passengers were very nervous and insistently requested to get off the plane with the excuse that they wanted to smoke.
The broken door meant that it took hours for the plane to resume the route to Istanbul while it was being repaired and the paperwork was being finalised. It was when everything was ready and the last documents were being delivered when 23 passengers rushed out of the aircraft, ran over the crew and ground staff and invaded the runways of Son Sant Joan airport on November 5. The judge investigating the case is trying to clarify whether what happened fits into a crime of sedition and the intensity of the violence used by the fugitives when they rushed out of the plane.
Of the 25 passengers under investigation, 21 remain in custody in Palma; the rest managed to leave Mallorca for the mainland and continue to be sought and captured. The Provincial Court has confirmed the remand of the young men awaiting trial.