Riyadh: A woman ‘forgot’ her newborn baby and boarded a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight at the King Abdulaziz International Airport.
The Saudi mother realised that she had left her child at the departure waiting hall which forced the pilot to make a U-turn immediately after takeoff.
A video was posted online of the communication between the control tower and the pilot, who requested landing permission to help reunite the mother with her baby.
“May God be with us. Can we come back or what (sic)?” the pilot was heard talking to air traffic controller.
The operator, after taking the flight number, is heard asking another colleague about the protocol.
“This flight is requesting to come back…a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing.”
The operator then asks the pilot to re-confirm the reason for turning back.
The pilot was overhead speaking: “We told you, a passenger left her baby in the terminal and refuses to continue the flight.”
“Ok, head back to the gate. This is totally a new one for us!”
In the video comments, the pilot was given loads of applause for his “humanity” — on agreeing to return to the airport after takeoff and considering the situation as an “emergency case”.
Social media users took to their accounts to voice their dismay over the mother’s behaviour.
&uuid=(email))