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Home Alone -- at the Airport
August 04, 2008 9:49 AM
By Simon McGregor-Wood, ABC News Jerusalem
Sunday was the busiest day of the year at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport as thousands of Israelis passed through on the way to their summer vacations.
But for one orthodox religious family from the town of Afula – the day did not go well. Finding themselves late for their flight to Paris they rushed with their six children towards the departure gate, boarding the flight with moments to spare.
The problem was that once the flight was airborne they realized one of the children was missing.
Their 4-year-old daughter was found wandering the terminal building in a state of distress according to the airport authorities. She had been left behind.
“I simply don’t know what happened to them,” the girl’s grandmother told a local newspaper. “We’re in shock. They’re very responsible people and organized, top-notch people. Apparently each one relied on the other and this is what happened.”
The little girl was placed on the next available flight to Paris in the care of the crew to be reunited with her parents and siblings.
Just a few days ago an 8-year-old boy traveling alone to Europe was put on the wrong flight. His grandparents were waiting for him at Munich but he landed in Brussels.
There has been widespread criticism Monday, of the latest incident in all the major paper and radio talks shows.
People from Israel’s Orthodox religious community tend to have large families. I know from my own experience that marshalling two small children through the maze of an airport can be tricky enough. I dread to think how it would be with six children.
That hasn’t stopped a flood of criticism form most of the Israelis I have spoken to, outraged that parents could forget a child, even if they were late for their flight.
I’m off on holiday later this month – perhaps I’ll keep the kids strapped into the double buggy until we reach the plane. Better safe than sorry.
August 4, 2008 in Simon McGregor-Wood | Permalink | User Comments (0)
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