A commercial airplane flying from Morocco to Turkey made an emergency landing in Barcelona's El Prat airport in the early hours of today and a group of 28 would-be migrants on board ran away across the tarmac, the Spanish government said.
Police detained 14 people, including a pregnant woman who officials claim pretended her waters had broken, prompting the emergency landing, the government said. A further 14 people have not yet been found.
Five of those detained were immediately put back on the plane operated by Turkey's Pegasus Airlines while eight will be deported to Morocco. The pregnant woman was checked in hospital and found not to be in labour, the government said.
The plane was carrying a total of 228 passengers from Casablanca to Istanbul.
In October last year, a group of passengers fled a plane onto the runway in Mallorca following an emergency landing under a false pretext and 12 of them were arrested, while another 12 escaped. Only one remains at large the rest have recently been released from Palma prison.