Airport shutdown after passengers flee plane forced into emergency landing

Majorca's Palma Airport has been closed following a reported runway invasion by passengers on a flight that had to make an emergency landing.

Around 20 people on an Air Maroc flight are said to have left the aircraft after it diverted to the holiday island so a passenger suffering diabetes could be taken off the plane.

Police are trying to locate the people who have “fled” the aircraft while all normal activity is suspended.

Flights bound for Majorca are being diverted to Menorca, Ibiza and the Spanish mainland while the incident is dealt with.

Have you been affected by the disruption? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk

Flights are being diverted to nearby islands ( REUTERS)

Air traffic controllers said on a Twitter feed: “Queues at Palma and possible diversions. Planes bound for the airport have been stopped for security reasons.

“It seems a plane has landed and there could be passengers from the flight on the runway.”

The alarm was raised just before 8.30pm local time today.

Spanish airports authority Aena confirmed: “Palma de Majorca airport has suspended temporarily its operations following an incident after a plane landed.”

Spanish newspaper website Ultima Hora reports that in an audio note shared widely on WhatsApp, a commander can be heard telling the plane's passengers that they are being held because "24 people have escaped".

Passengers have been facing delays due to the incident (Stock photo) ( AFP via Getty Images)

He said: "The planes that were coming to Palma cannot land. The colleagues at the waiting point with the engines running have had to turn them off to avoid any possible intake of a passenger."

Luis Alcantarilla told The Mirror he has been at Palma airport waiting for a plane to return home to Manchester.

He said the aircraft was diverted to Barcelona due to the incident and is expected to get to Palma at around 11pm UK time (midnight local time), meaning passengers faced about three hours of delay.

At 10.20pm, he said: "The airport will open again in five minutes. We were due to fly at 9.20pm.

"We were given a 4 euro credit to use but we couldn’t pass back through security to actually use it."

The passenger added: "Incidentally I also have a friend on the flight that was diverted and they’ve been sat in Barcelona for two hours."

Another UK passenger also said on Twitter their flight to London Gatwick is facing delays due to the incident in Palma.

One more person tweeted: "10 mins away from landing in Mallorca and we get word they have closed the airport. Now in Barcelona for an undisclosed amount of time."

The plane at the centre of the drama was heading from Casablanca in Morocco to Istanbul in Turkey.

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A companion of the 34-year-old Moroccan man who was taken to Majorca’s Son Llatzer Hospital after claiming he was ill and forcing the aircraft to divert to the holiday island, was on Friday night said to have disappeared from the medical centre.

Local reports said the passenger at the centre of the health scare had been given a clean bill of health by doctors.

The other passengers police are still understood to be looking for - between 10 and 20 - forced their way out of the aircraft when the doors opened so the “sick” passenger could be rushed to hospital.

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