Plane returns to airport, retrieves baby left behind at terminal

PETALING JAYA (March 13): A flight from Saudi Arabia was forced to return to the Jeddah airport en-route to Malaysia when it was discovered that a passenger had left her baby at the airport’s terminal.

The Independent UK reported that the Kuala Lumpur-bound Saudia flight SV832 had already taken off from Jeddah, so the pilot requested to return the airport after learning that a passenger on board had forgotten her baby at the airport’s boarding area.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, the pilot's conversation with the airport’s air traffic control (ATC) went as follows: “May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” the pilot said. 

“This flight is requesting to come back… a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing,” an air traffic controller can be heard saying.

The pilot was then asked to repeat his request, after which the ATC granted.

“We told you, a passenger left her baby in the terminal and refuses to continue the flight,” the pilot said.

“OK, head back to the gate. This is a totally new one for us!” replied the ATC.

The Independent reported that no further information was was available, regarding how the mother forgot her child at the boarding gate of the airport.