A GIRL of two escaped with minor injuries after being carried on a baggage conveyor belt at Manchester Airport.
Police were called after she became separated from her parents in the check-in hall.
As her frantic parents searched Terminal 2, she crawled under a check-in desk and climbed onto a moving conveyor belt.
The drama only ended when she was rescued by an engineer. She was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital for treatment to cuts and bruises
An airport spokesman was unable to say whether she had passed through an x-ray machine during her ordeal. It was not known how far she travelled on the conveyor belt, but she was found in the first of three tiers of the baggage system.
An investigation has been launched by the Health and Safety Executive.
A source said: "Her clothes were torn and she had cuts and bruises. She was lucky not to have been more seriously hurt.
"She could have been through an x-ray machine as well."
She went missing at about 6.45pm on Thursday as her parents joined the queue for Airblue flight ED221 to Islamabad. Her father is understood to have seen her heading towards a vending machine.
Police were called after the family reported her missing.
In the meantime an engineer investigating a stoppage in the four-mile long conveyor system found the child.
Paramedics took her to hospital with a minor head injury and she was kept in overnight as a precaution.
A police spokesman said there was no further need for police involvement.
An airport official said: "We are extremely concerned about this incident and are working with the ground-handling agent and the Health and Safety Executive to understand exactly how it occurred and to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure this cannot happen again."
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Toddler in airport horror
December 11, 2007
Showing comments 1 to 13 and replies | View All
Charlotte (11/12/2007 at 11:00)
richard rothwell, rochdale (11/12/2007 at 11:18)
Kayut (11/12/2007 at 11:50)
chris (11/12/2007 at 12:32)
a) charge the parents for the enhanced 'customer experience’ they had and
b) how they can spin terrorism into the press report.
alvinlwh (11/12/2007 at 12:45)
Jo14, Stockport (11/12/2007 at 13:20)
edwards (11/12/2007 at 13:51)
who cares who I am, who cares where I am (11/12/2007 at 23:07)
What could be more important than to keep hold of your child?
How irresponsible!!
Ms D, Manchester (12/12/2007 at 09:04)
The Thunderer (12/12/2007 at 10:03)
I was at the airport last week and even on "light" day there were plenty of people queuing. Check-ins, like a number of other places, are potentially dangerous places - parents have to take responsibility.(Stated as the aprent of two children!)
I hope that the airport having done its initial checks does not start spending loads of money on safety measures as a result of this incident. Statistically it is so small as to be regarded as a freak accident. (There was a similar incident 10 years ago.) Passenger numbers are now over 22 million per year and thus at a lower end estimate there have been 150 million passengers since 1997. Therefore the chance of this happening is 1 in 75 million!
mary j monks (12/12/2007 at 16:49)
Christine Dupere (12/12/2007 at 17:27)
Any child that age in such a busy public place will want to wander off. It happens everywhere. You can't put a security person or fences everywhere there is mechanical/moving instruments.
It's common sense to keep your child at arms length and eye sight at all times in public places.
I don't think this is the responsibility of the airport at all.
Red Paddy (13/12/2007 at 08:52)
I said to one 'what would you do if you child was hurt'. She said 'sue the airport'!