Flight emergency: Passenger flight returns back as mother forgets baby at the airport lounge

An unusual incident at the passenger flight was declared flight emergency over the weekend. Flights are usually cleared to return to airports when there is a major emergency and something happens to force the pilot to turn around.

But, Saudia  flight returned to the Jeddah airport right after taking off as a female passenger on board forgot her baby at the airport terminal.

Flight SV832, bound to Kuala Lumpur from Jeddah, turned back after the mother told cabin crew that she had forgotten her baby in the boarding area at the terminal of the King Abdul Aziz International Airport.

A video is doing rounds on social media showing pilot requesting permission to head back to the airport while talking to ATC operators. They were certainly caught by surprise and were scampering around to figure out the protocol to be observed for such an incident.

Here is the translation of the audio communication:

“May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” the pilot was heard talking to the 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”.