According to a source in the central government's delegation in Catalonia, the incident began at 0330 UTC when the plane requested an emergency landing because "a female passenger's waters had supposedly broken".
When it touched down, the plane was met by an ambulance and three police patrols but "as they were disembarking the pregnant woman, a group of 28 people left the plane and tried to flee," the source said.
Police managed to detain 14 of them, including the pregnant woman, but five were returned to the plane at their own request after being accepted back by the airline staff.
"The woman was taken to Sant Joan de Deu hospital for a check-up which found no signs she was in labor so she was discharged and arrested for disturbing the public order by claiming she had gone into labor," the source said.
Police are searching for the 14 who managed to flee, while the authorities were processing the other eight would-be migrants to ensure their return to Morocco.
On November 5, 2021, another plane from Casablanca to Istanbul was forced to make an emergency landing in Mallorca after one of the passengers appeared to be taken ill.
After the passenger was disembarked from the plane with a companion, another 21 people fled.