Two parents were arrested at Tel Aviv airport on Tuesday for leaving their baby behind, presumably to avoid paying for a plane ticket, reports The Independent.
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The incident came after a row with Ryanair employees over the requirement to have a ticket for their child.
Airport authorities suggest the parents were either unable to buy a ticket or simply didn’t want one, reports the New York Post.
Employees are in shock after the event.
“We couldn’t believe what was happening,” one of them told local media KAN.
The Israel Airports Authority reports that the parents, who were traveling with a Belgian passport, reportedly arrived late at the airport.
They would have seemed preoccupied with getting through security, with or without their baby.
After the altercation with Ryanair employees, they would have simply left their toddler in his stroller before rushing to passport control.
The police, who were immediately alerted by officers from Ben Gurion airport, are now handling the case.
“We have never seen anything like it,” admits one of Ryanair’s employees.
Sadly, it wouldn’t be the first time a baby has been left behind at an airport, reports The Independent.
Last October, a grandfather was reportedly arrested for leaving a two-year-old child in a rented car at the airport in Daytona, Florida.
In 2019, a flight had to turn back in Saudi Arabia after a mother told the crew that she had left her baby at Jeddah airport.