Airports are every parent’s worst nightmare, especially if you have a baby or toddler in tow.
With an array of dangerous hazards and rushing strangers, it’s a shock that children don’t get hurt in airports every day .
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Most of the time, airport personal are able to ensure that wandering children can’t interact with any of the machinery that help load flights. However, sometimes mistakes are made, and the smallest among us slip through the cracks.
One mother’s nightmare became a reality when she was unable to find her young son.
Edith Vega was at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport and briefly put her son down in order to print her boarding pass.
Though she only looked away for a moment, it was one moment too many, as he had wandered away by the time she was finished.
Security footage shows the toddler climbing onto a baggage conveyor belt.
Shockingly, the belt carried him a long with a piece of luggage through its entire track route through the airport.
The toddler traveled all the way back to the TSA bag room.
“He just went a long ride away, I couldn’t even catch up,” Vega told CNN , “I wanted to jump in and try to go get him, but they didn’t allow me.”
Her son was on the belt for over five minutes.
When he arrived at the TSA bag room, agents were able to step in and carry him off the belt to safety.
Emergency services arrived and promptly brought the boy to the nearest hospital.
Unfortunately, the toddler did sustain injuries.
The incident report states that Vega’s son had a severely swollen and bruised right hand, as well as other bruises on his legs and arms.
Spirit Airlines released a statement shortly after the incident.
“Spirit Airlines is aware of an incident at Hartsfield-Jackson International in which an unattended child passed by a section of our ticket counter that was not staffed or open at the time,” the statement read.
“The child was able to access a back baggage area via a bag belt and sustained some injuries.”
“We are currently working with TSA and airport officials to ensure all protocol was followed,” the statement continued, “We wish the child the best in their recovery.”
Watch the terrifying footage for yourself.
If your child got into a situation like this, would you blame the airport staff, the airline kiosk, or yourself?
We wish the young boy a full recovery, and hope that this particular indecent is the last of its kind.
h/t: CNN
