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Date Published: 05/10/2022
ARCHIVED - Russian stowaway arrested in Spain after ducking airport security
The extra passenger caused the Malaga-bound flight to divert to Madrid
A ticket-less Russian passenger managed to sneak onto a Malaga-bound flight on Monday October 3 at Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM).
According to local reports, the woman arrived at the gates without having booked a seat. She pressed an emergency button and, amid the chaos caused among airport staff, ducked through the security door and onto a plane.
The stowaway had walked onto Transavia flight HV5023 to Malaga in Spain and incredibly, the pilot took off without realising he was carrying an extra, non-paying passenger.
In fact, airport staff initially believed the woman had ducked onto a flight to Faro in Portugal and that plane had to make an unscheduled landing in Bordeaux before the mistake was realised.
A couple of hours after taking off, the crew on the Spanish flight identified the additional passenger and the Boeing 737-700 was diverted to Madrid. The stowaway was escorted off the aircraft by police officers and the plane was searched for any unauthorised luggage.
After spending around 3.5 hours sitting on the runway in Madrid, the remaining passengers eventually made it to the Costa del Sol more than four hours late.
According to other travellers, once discovered, the Russian woman spoke of human trafficking and demanded to speak to the ambassador.
A spokesperson for the military police confirmed that “a passenger reached the platform unseen and boarded an aircraft.
“As soon as the military police became aware, we immediately informed the captain.
“The captain then decided to land in Madrid, where the person was removed from the plan by Spanish police.”
It might seem incredible that such a security breach is allowed to happen and severely disrupt not one, but two flights, but debacles like this are far from unheard of. Last month, a drunk British passenger was able to storm past airport staff who refused to let him board a flight to Girona; the Leeds man was sitting buckled into his seat before officials caught up with him.
Image: Pixabay
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