Four Men Run From Turkish Airlines Plane That Made Emergency Landing in Malta For Sick Passenger, Manhunt Under Way
- A passenger allegedly faked a serious illness to get the Morocco-bound plane to land in Europe where four Moroccan nationals jumped off the plane and sprinted for freedom. A manhunt is underway for two of the men.
Police on the small Mediterranean island of Malta have launched a manhunt for two of four men who made an audacious bid to get into the European Union when the Turkish Airlines plane they were flying on made an emergency diversion to Malta International Airport close to the capital Valletta on New Years Day.
Eyewitness video taken by one of the passengers on the plane shows the moment that the men sprinted across the tarmac after escaping from the back of the Boeing 737 while ground workers were locating the luggage belonging to the sick passenger.
Video: @HavaSosyalMedya / X
Turkish Airlines flight TK619 departed Istanbul at 12 pm on January 1 for the four-and-a-half-hour flight to Marrakesh, Morrocco, but as the plane flew high above Siciliy, a passenger reported feeling sick, and the pilots decided to divert the plane to Malta.
Once on the ground in Malta, and while emergency services were still assessing the sick passengers, four men allegedly ran to the back of the plane, opened the exit door, and jumped off the plane.
Once on the tarmac, they sprinted towards the airport perimeter fence with and Armed Forces of Malta officer in hot pursuit.
Two of the four men, aged 28 and 34, and both from Morrocco were quickly apprehended and taken into immigration custody, along with the sick passenger who is believed to have faked their illness in order to get the plane to divert to an airport within the EU.
All three have been slapped with travel bans that prevent their return to Malta or any other Schengen zone country.
A manhunt is still underway for the other two men who managed to scale the airport perimeter fence. Both fugitives are also Moroccan nationals.
This isn’t the first time that fake medical emergencies have been used as a tactic by desperate immigrants to land a plane within the European Union. In 2021, an Air Arabia flight from Casablanca, Morrocco, made an emergency landing on the Spanish island of Mallorca due to a bogus medical emergency.
Once on the ground, a group of up to 20 people jumped off the plane and made a dash for freedom. Five of the suspects were caught before they got out of the airport, but 15 others managed to scale the airport fence.
Just over a year later, nearly thirty migrants made a daring bid for freedom in Spain after an Istanbul-bound plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Barcelona.
In that incident, a female co-conspirator faked going into childbirth to get the plane on the ground.
