Toddler briefly disappears at Ben Gurion Airport; found on baggage conveyor belt

In an incident at Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday, a family briefly lost their 2-year-old son before finding him minutes later on the conveyor belt that takes baggage to a sorting area before being loaded on to planes.

The incident was first reported on by Channel 12 on Saturday, which said the family was checking in for a flight to Larnaca, Cyprus, when they realized their child had disappeared.

They searched for him in vain and called the police, who began instituting procedures for a missing child at the airport.

The toddler was found several minutes later, after apparently managing to climb onto the conveyor belt carrying baggage from check-in via an unstaffed counter, the airport said in a statement.

It said the toddler had not been supervised by his parents.

The toddler was found further down the baggage conveyor belt, at the point where baggage is sorted before distribution for loading, the TV report said.

The airport statement said he was found safe and sound, having traveled only a few meters, but an employee in the baggage sorting area told Channel 12 that they were “in shock” to find a toddler on the conveyor belt, adding: “It’s not clear how he survived.”

Following the incident, the parents were briefly questioned before they were allowed to board their flight.

The Israel Airports Authority said that its initial probe shows that the toddler was unsupervised and managed to wander away from his parents at the check-in counter, and that “the matter is being handled by the police in conjunction with the toddler’s parents.”