An odd occurrence occurred at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, where a parent allegedly abandoned their 10-year-old son at the terminal after realising his passport had expired.
Lilian Limasin, an air traffic controller at El Prat, shared the “totally surreal” incident on TikTok, telling how a regular day swiftly devolved into turmoil.
At 8:30 a.m., she received an urgent instruction to halt an aeroplane heading for Casablanca, Morocco.
Minutes earlier, Catalan police saw a small kid strolling alone through the terminal.
When questioned by cops, the child stated that his parents had departed without him. Despite repeated requests across the airport for the parents to come forward, none did.
Staff learnt that the couple was already seated on the flight to Casablanca, forcing the Spanish Civil Guard to block its departure.
When confronted, the parents offered a stunning answer. They had planned a vacation in Morocco with their two children, but at the boarding gate, they discovered that their eldest son’s passport had expired.
Rather than abandoning their plans, they allegedly left him at the gate and called a relative to pick him up before racing to board the airline.
“His national passport had expired, so he was travelling with his Spanish passport, but it required a visa to be valid,” she said. “
Because they did not have this visa, they left the infant in the terminal and contacted a family member to pick him up.”
According to Limasin, the parents thought their acts were “perfectly normal,” but authorities saw it very differently.
The couple is now facing accusations for abandoning a youngster and causing a significant aircraft delay.
Spanish officials have acknowledged that social services are investigating, and the appropriate penalty will be determined after the investigations are completed.