JEFFAH: Just a few minutes after takeoff, Saudia's flight number SV832 was forced to return to King Abdul Aziz International Airport here after a mother forgot her child in the waiting area of the terminal.
While airplanes are cleared to return to airports in the case of a major emergency, the bizarre incident left airport authorities baffled as they tried establishing the protocol for such a scenario, reports Gulf News.
"This flight is requesting to come back…a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing. May God be with us. Can we come back or what?" the pilot can be heard as saying to air traffic controller in a video which has since gone viral.
After noting down the flight number, the operator can be heard asking fellow colleagues about the protocol, before asking the pilot to re-confirm the reason for turning back.
"We told you, a passenger left her baby in the terminal and refuses to continue the flight," the pilot of the flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur says.
The operator clears the flight to return, exclaiming, "Ok, head back to the gate. This is totally a new one for us!"
The pilot has since been lauded for coming to the rescue of the distraught mother by social media users.
While the mother and child were reunited upon the flight's return, there is no further information about the two.