17 Moroccan passengers attempt escape from Rome airport after emergency landing

17 Moroccan passengers attempted, on Sunday May 12, to escape from Rome's Fiumicino airport after an emergency landing. The flight, operated by Air Arabia Maroc from Istanbul, was initially scheduled for Tangiers. However, due to a passenger suffering from a heart attack, the crew diverted the aircraft to the nearest airport, Rome Fiumicino, for medical attention to the passenger.

While the Italian emergency services were attending to the sick passenger, a group of young Moroccan passengers, all of whom had been deported from Turkey, tried to escape through the rear of the aircraft. The Italian security services, already present around the plane since it landed, quickly reacted and arrested all the members of the group.

The aircraft finally resumed its flight to Tangiers later that day, after the Italian authorities had checked the identity documents of all its passengers.

This episode echoes similar incidents involving Moroccan passengers in Europe. In July of 2022, 28 Moroccan passengers tried to escape from a plane from Casablanca following an emergency landing in Barcelona, Spain. Similarly, in November 2021, a group of passengers on an Air Arabia flight from Casablanca to Istanbul managed to escape from the plane after a medical emergency landing at Palma de Mallorca airport.