Five Moroccan citizens asylum seekers escaped last night from one of the reception rooms at Barajas airport via a hole in the ceiling. Four of them are still missing and one has already been arrested.
After climbing through the roof, the men reached the roof and there they lost track, except one. Since then, the other four They are searched by the National Police.
Union sources tell Efe that the escape shows that the constructions provided by AENA, the operator of Barajas airport, to keep asylum seekers are “totally insufficient and dangerous.”
“You cannot work in these conditions, without security measuresand without adequate conditions”, they warn, while emphasizing the “seriousness” of not knowing “where” the fugitives are, since they can “cause a critical security incident” by “circulating freely around a critical structure” like Barajas airport, as sources from the Ministry of the Interior and unions confirmed to Efe.
“They can hit the slopes or to various locations where they could compromise security,” they warn.
According to data provided to Efe by union sources, in room 3 there are 46 asylum seekers and 27 not admitted; In room 1, of a temporary nature and activated in the event of saturation, there are 18 minors and 52 women; and in room 4 there is 78 people.
Last Monday, the Interior Ministry attempted to expel some of the 35 Saharawi citizens remaining detained in Barajas, but at least one group of asylum seekers refused to board the plane and remained in the airport premises.
On several occasions, humanitarian organizations have denounced the overcrowded and insecure conditions in which asylum seekers remain at Barajas airport while their applications are processed.