In one bizarre incident, just a few minutes after takeoff, a passenger plane had to return to King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, after a mother forgot her child in the waiting area of the terminal.
According to reports, Flight SV832 headed for Kuala Lumpur from Jeddah was flown back after the woman passenger informed the cabin crew about her blunder. Later, a video of the pilot requesting the Air Traffic Control (ATC) to allow the aircraft to land back at the airport went viral on social media.
“This flight is requesting to come back, a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing. May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” the pilot can be heard as saying to air traffic controller in a video.
The ATC operators were taken by surprise after the pilot informed them about the incident. Executives spent several minutes figuring out the protocol to be observed during such incidents.
Also read: Delhi-based UN consultant among four Indians killed in Ethiopian plane crash
The operator clears the flight to return, exclaiming, “Ok, head back to the gate. This is totally a new one for us!”
The pilot has since been lauded for coming to the rescue of the distraught mother by social media users.
Last year police in Germany said a couple had left their daughter at an airport in Stuttgart on their way back from a holiday.
Officers allegedly spotted the five-year-old wandering alone around the terminal last October.
