A 4.5-year-old girl asked a policeman in Ben-Gurion International Airport “where are my parents,” after realizing she was unable to find them. Police acted promptly and in a short time realized that the parents boarded a flight for Paris with 4 of their 5 children, forgetting their youngest in the airport.
The family, numbering 7 persons, arrived at the airport with 18 pieces of luggage according to Sun Dor Airlines officials, reportedly telling airline employees they are leaving Israel for good.
For reasons that are not known, the family was running late as they made their way to the gate and the gate official passes did not realize that the parents handed them seven boarding passes while only six people got onto the plane. One of the employees of the airport’s duty free shops told police he noticed the little girl wandering around on her own, later realizing she was left behind.
Policeman Ofir Ochaiyon explained the “little girl, a really cute girl, began pulling on my trousers asking, ‘where are my parents?’”
Ofir added it was fortunate that the little girl was extremely intelligent and calm, assisting him in determining exactly what was taking place. “I even offered her ice cream” he explained, “but she responded that her parents told her not to eat anything that does not have a badatz hechsher.” He eventually found her ices with an acceptable hechsher and she gladly accepted the well-intentioned gift.
Sarit Ben-Eden, a policewoman in the airport station explained that the girl provided her with the names of her parents, but she was getting scared and began to cry while waiting in the station. While the announcement of the lost child was aired on the airport’s public address system, no one responded. After Ben-Eden checked with passport control police, she was shocked to learn that her parents and her siblings had already cleared passport control and made their way to their flight to Paris.
Passport Control Chief Inspector Amnon Shmueli contacted Son Dor, requesting flight officials verify if the family was indeed on the flight. To his amazement, the parents and other children had taken off for Paris, forgetting the little girl. It was only some 40 minutes into the flight after the captain called the mother to the front of the plane was she made aware that one of her children was missing.
“The parents were in shock” airline officials report, adding they sat speechless in their seats, unable to understand how such an event was permitted to occur without taking notice.
They parents were informed the girl would be arriving on an El Al flight to Paris two hours later. Upon their arrival in Charles de Gaulle International Airport they immediately went to the El Al area to wait for her. Eventually, they were reunited.
Ben-Gurion International Airport Chief Yigal Shabtai stated that when the parents return to Israel, they will be taken for questioning and they may face charges of endangering a minor. Son Dor explains that the fact that flight personnel did not take notice of the missing passenger was a most unfortunate and extremely rare occurrence.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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39 Responses
I have quite a number of children, I can understand that it is very hectic boarding the plane but once on the plane I cannot understand how a parent does not realize that a child is missing unless they are not all sitting together.
OMG! What a story! Hard to imagine!
A very special girl!
Is this the only way to save an airline ticket? Ingenious.
Why does this issue plague our children in our community, evidently, worldwide?
veryinteresting —
“plague our children in our community”? I think that is quite an exaggeration, to put it mildly.
There has to be more to this story than what appears on the surface. I guarantee that something more will come out in the near future.
cause we’re too busy rushing……..
so maybe we should require the yeshivos to do a better job of teaching math???????????????
(though that doesn’t explain the airline not noticing they had more boarding passes than passengers – I heard the hiloni schools haven’t done too well at math lately, either)
no words
#9 That is a dream that is not coming true any time soon.
akuperma,
why do you assume that the the airline employee was a “hiloni”?, because they actually work for a living?…plenty of people work every day and are not hiloni, they work full time and still find time to daven with a minyan 3 times a day and learn.
how could the parents not realize that they were missing a child?….the pilot had to tell the mother that she was missing a child?…after 40 minutes, don’t go blaming other people, the parents are the only ones that are to be blamed here
who knows what the parents were going through at the time I am sure this was not doen specially! How often do people leave kids in cars and forget about them that is worse since it normally happens after a short ride. May no harm come to any of the family due to this story.
veryinteresting,
I’m glad to see your worried about Bibi Netanyahu being reported fairly in the press and then you make bizzrare and crazy statements about the major problem of kids being left all over. That must be an accurate and well researched comment by you.
Your not only very interesting your also very inconsistant and you can’t be taken seriously about anything.
kol tuv
i know it is a very interest thing to happen but think about it very often when going on a flight with a family there isnt enough place for everyone to sit next to each other so it isnt so difficult to say that the father thought the child was with the mother and visa versa it was just as wrong of the airline not to notice that they had an extra boarding card
Agreed. While the airport security obviously failed to notice the extra boarding pass/missing passenger, the parents are the ones to be blamed here.
Unfortunately you hear these stories (children left in hot cars…) and as a parent myself, I can’t imagine “being too busy to notice” a child is missing…let alone seated for that long before being told about it.
Well, B’H child and parent were reunited and all it is well. I am at a lost as well as why it took so long for the parents to realize but for what ever reason it did and B’H eveyone is ok. (I guess it’s a good thing that it was an airport instead of a rest stop on the side of the road on a car trip)
I think that what we can all walk away from this is, make sure to come to the airport with enough time to board yourflight as stress free as possible, and that when ever you plan on a family trip make sure you do a head count as often as possible. It’s easy to say it would never happen to me, until it does. Plan before hand to reduce this possibility from becoming a reality.
#6, Joseph, and #14, ayin tov
#6, I know you are a proud Jew, but no more proud than the rest of us. I know you feel safe holding to what you think is the status quo on news matters. BUT….
This sort of thing, forgetting children, happens in our community to the point of children being left in cars to die…TOO MUCH and it should never happen even once.
I have heard too many stories about children being forgotten with the consequences severe to the child especially, and the parents, legally.
If you think my concern is too great, then you are not thinking about the children as much as how you like to posture.
#14, LOL, I am thinking your insult means quite the opposite. I must be hitting a nerve which I don’t intend to, so I hope you will mochel me. But speaking of making a comment on the irony of the names we use to post…………lol I rest my case.
Also, are you Joseph’s big brother? Second time you came to his defense.
WWhy are we always so quick to attack?
veryinteresting,
I like you as well. Really.
But you can’t worry about journalistic accuracy and research and then comment about the issue that “plague our children and community”. I mean really, is that consistant or mature of you?
Youre a bright fellow. Stick to the beef and substance and not your incredible intuition.
LOL. Ayin tov.
P.S. I’m josephs little brother. Hi Joseph!
“the parents are the ones to be blamed here.”
neither you nor i are fit to blame anyone here.
It was a sign from Shomayim that they shouldn’t be leaving Heliga Eretz Yisroel to vacation in Tumadika Paris. No one seems to be getting the message!
to all of you arm chair generals
who says the parents didn’t realize
may be they realized immediately. let us get the FACTS please
The left her there because they were worried about marrying her off due to the shidduch crisis.
veryinteresting —
I completely agree with your sentiments that even once is too much.
Nevertheless, to characterize this as something being prevalent, is mistaken. This is extremely rare, Baruch Hashem, and should be something that we never hear of.
veryinteresting —
P.S. Everyone here is my brother (or sister), including yourself, not just those that agree with me. (But you don’t have to take offense at how agreeable I am amongst my brothers!)
Peace & Love
#6 (Joseph),
I agree with you. This type of issue is not a Yiddishe problem. We have our problems, but this is not one of them. This practically never happens. Of course when it does its a mistake and wrong. But lets not besmirch klal yisroel with this.
(“they sat speechless in their seats, unable to understand how such an event was permitted to occur without taking notice.”)
It’s quite a shame that they were so haggered and rushed that no one of thier group had any reason to talk to this child for over an hour, which would have caused them to notice she’s missing.
What I also find shoking is that they blame others for not noticing.
there is no question in any body’s mind that the responsible parties in this case are the parents. how could they ignore the count and check of the seating of the whole family, all members , before liftoff. 40 minutes into the flight , reflects 40 minutes of of not caring for your children.i think that the parents should have been made to go back to ben -gurion airport ,claim their child and cited by the proper authorities for neglect.
Why are people beating up a Yiddishe mama for a mistake?
#22 If you read the articale it says they have moved away so dont blame them for going in the 9 days who knos the reason why they had to go
While others are beating up on the parents for what is clearly a grave error on their part, I would like to address the security issue. The parents presented 7 boarding passes and boarded six people. The airline MUST do a head count of the amount passengers for several reasons:
1) To make sure people that do not pay, do not get on the flight.
2) to make sure people do not get on the wrong flight.
3) To calculate weight and balance of the plane. (Yes this must be done even on large planes)
4) To prevent terrorists from checking luggage with bombs and then not flying themselves. (perhaps archaic in the era of suicide bombers, but nevertheless left over from when we thought people had an instinct for self preservation.)
Where was El Al? The steward who was responsible for the head count should be fired. Suppose the missing passenger had checked dangerous luggage? There is a substantial amount of culpability here on behalf of the airline and that should not be overlooked in the Zionists’ zeal to bedevil the chareidi parents.
Answer to Caracas Chick (#12)
1. Government agencies rarely if ever hire graduates of hareidi schools – some would suggest that being hareidi in modern Israel is like being “colored” under Jim Crow in America, but if you are from South America you won’t understand
2. I said “hiloni schools” (as opposed to the hareidi schools), noting the current controversy over whether hareidi schools should spend more effort teaching math, but also noting that the government’s schools are also doing increasingly poorly on international math tests, and that it was both the hareidi parents and the airport and El Al employees who managed to miscount.
3. My post was sarcastic and an attempt at humor.
The math involved in counting either one’s children, or counting the number of people on an airplane, is usually reached by 2nd grade (the parents were obviously overwhelmed moving so many little kids on the plane, and probably had some babies or toddlers to worry about, the airport people have less of an excuse since they have to be checking for stowaways).
How many times do we read about frum children forgotten in cars (sometimes with the windows closed)? Perhaps the families are not able to cope with that many young children at one time. By the way, the reports are that they were frum.
I cannot imagine that the family in this story sat together. Most likely Father and Mother sat on different parts of the plane and each one (KNEW) that the child was by the other! …and for ALL of you criticizing the parent for not checking for 40 minutes, well, you probably never travel! Being frum and not wanting to make a chillul Hashem, keeps me in my seat (whether I like it or not) until the seatbelt sign goes off! Many times for over 40 minutes
When we traveled for yom tov to Eretz Yisroel, I must admit the hardest part was the “head counting” ALL day and night long!!!! We were a party of 9, (6 adults & 3 mature children). It took me many months way after the trip, whenever I walked with some children, I would always count, even though I walked in our own town, on shabbos etc. The counting really got to me.
I must admit though, that counting CONSTANTLY is a MUST! Once when we left our apartment in Yerusholayim to get a cab, My Husband went with everyone ahead of me, (I still cleared away and took out the garbage). When I finally reached part of our group up the hill, the first thing I asked was: “Is Moshy (6) & Gitty (8) with you? Guess what! Gitty was NOT there! I panicked immediately. All crazy thought racing through my mind…. I ran back down the hill towards our apartment, and as soon as I reached the courtyard, I heard hysterical crying! Eight year old Gitty realized she was home alone and couldn’t even run after us, because she was locked in! Apparently she went upstairs to the deck to play while we got ready to go and didn’t hear us leave, while I didn’t see anyone home, I checked every room and toilet before I left. And my Husband was sure that she was with me. (It took her {and me} a long time to get back to ourselves.
Let’s stop blaming those parents. I don’t think anyone blogging on YW actually spoke to them?
# 15 keepsmiling is right on target. In hind sight, everyone’s a chochem.
There was probably some valid reason that one responsible family member thought that another responsible family member was with the child. Add to this that they were not sitting together, and the lack of sleep due to packing etc. While, it’s unfortunate, it’s really the one’s who are in charge of airport safety that need to explain for the breach in security.
Noone’s saying the security are not at fault, but to lay it all at their feet and to say things like “and the lack of sleep due to packing etc.” is ridiculous. Frum, not frum, Jewish or not- this is completely irresponsible and I hope we never hear stories like this again- among our community or anyone else’s.
I’ve flown el al twice with in the last five years with my “gang” they had us intially seating all over the plan unitl after takeoff,(the stewardess begged us just to sit in our assigned seats and she would arrange us after lift off so we could take off on time) there is a makom to be dan l’chaf zechos. What a special little girl, I hope the recacha (Israeli Family services) doesn’t take the kids away, they are very good at that.
Important not to generalize… it happened, but it’s not typical