Brit couple's son boards flight to wrong country while lost at busy Spanish airport
A distressed British couple discovered their son had managed to sneak onto a flight to the wrong country after becoming separated from him in a busy Spanish airport this morning.
The panicked couple sounded the alarm after losing sight of the teenager at Menorca Airport ahead of their scheduled Tui flight back to London Stansted. Police checked CCTV cameras and discovered the 15-year-old had managed to leave on a flight to Italy.
He had gone through security and boarded the flight to Milan around the same time as his original Stansted-bound plane. It comes after a mum left a 16-month-old baby home alone to die when she went on holiday.
The extraordinary sequence of events is due to finish with an emotional reunion in Italy later today, when the boy's mum reaches Milan after jumping on a later plane to meet him. The pair are then due back in the UK.
Spanish police confirmed today they helped locate the youngster after he became separated from his mum and dad.
A well-placed source said: 'They were due to catch Tui flight BY5107 back to London Stansted Airport together at 10.25 this morning but became separated. The boy's parents ended up reporting him missing and that led to police intervention.'
A National Police spokesman in Majorca said: 'Officers checked cameras in the departures area and saw the teenager had managed to get onto a flight to Milan.
'The airport had already activated its missing child alert system but it was deactivated after it was confirmed the lad was on his way to Italy.'
It was not immediately clear this afternoon how the youngster managed to board easyJet flight U23762, which left Menorca on time at 9.25am this morning, without a valid ticket.
One airport insider suggested he could have evaded the normal security checks in place after the boarding gate had already closed and staff checking passports and tickets had left their posts.
Easyjet, which is expected to launch an investigation into what went wrong, has not yet commented. Airline staff are said to have realised a passenger without the proper ticket was onboard during the flight.
The British family at the centre of this morning's drama have not been identified. It is not known whether they were travelling with other children and where and how the teenager became separated from his parents.
The Tui flight ended up departing 45 minutes behind schedule. Easyjet has been approached for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Powys County Times
23 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Negligence of Titan tour operator chief contributed to implosion deaths
The negligence exhibited by the chief executive of the tour operator responsible for the Titan submersible, which fatally imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, contributed to the deaths of four people, a report has concluded. The US Coast Guard said OceanGate Expeditions 'leveraged intimidation tactics… to evade regulatory scrutiny' before the implosion of the deep-sea vessel which led to the deaths of five people, including chief executive Stockton Rush, in June 2023. British adventurer Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet, were also killed in the incident. The report, authored by lead investigator Thomas Whalen and marine board chairman Jason Neubauer, concluded that in Mr Rush's case, there was evidence of 'potential criminal offences'. It concluded Mr Rush had 'exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals' and may have been accused of 'misconduct or neglect of ship officers' had he survived the incident. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison in the US. The report said OceanGate had a 'toxic workplace environment' and used the 'looming threat of being fired' to prevent staff from coming forward with safety concerns. It added that analysis revealed a 'disturbing pattern of misrepresentation and reckless disregard for safety'. On Tuesday, the US Coast Guard published a lengthy report which identified eight 'primary causal factors' that led to the fatal implosion. The report criticised OceanGate's design and testing processes and the continued use of the Titan submersible despite 'a series of incidents that compromised the integrity of the hull and other critical components'. The tour operator's former director of engineering was reported by the US Coast Guard to have said the first hull used on the Titan submersible was akin to a 'high school project'. According to the report, a contractor hired by OceanGate in 2022 voiced 'numerous safety concerns' to a company director, before being told: 'You have a bad attitude, you don't have an explorer mindset, you know, we're innovative and we're cowboys, and a lot of people can't handle that.' The report read: 'For several years preceding the incident, OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company's favourable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny. 'By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate Titan completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols, which had historically contributed to a strong safety record for commercial submersibles. 'The lack of both third-party oversight and experienced OceanGate employees on staff during their 2023 Titan operations allowed OceanGate's chief executive officer to completely ignore vital inspections, data analyses, and preventative maintenance procedures, culminating in a catastrophic event.' Addressing potential criminality, the report said: 'Had OceanGate's CEO and chief pilot survived the incident, the MBI (Marine Board of Investigation) would have recommended that the commandant refer the matter to DoJ (Department of Justice) for their consideration on whether to pursue a separate criminal investigation. 'The MBI concluded that Mr Rush, in his dual role as CEO and as the acting master or pilot of the Titan submersible, exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals. 'As both a corporate executive responsible for the vessel's operation and its master during the casualty, Mr Rush may have been subject to criminal liability under the standards set forth in 18 USC § 1115 (misconduct or neglect of ship officers).'
Evening Standard
an hour ago
- Evening Standard
Iran urges Taliban to reveal Afghan 'kill list' leaked by UK Government to hunt down MI6 spies
"We've been calling and visiting their family members to track them down. Senior figures in the establishment in Kandahar are pressuring officials in Kabul to find them. They believe these individuals are still working with the British, and say the problem must be dealt with."
ITV News
an hour ago
- ITV News
ITV News cameras catch 200 cyclists running a red light in just one hour
ITV News cameras have caught 200 cyclists jumping red lights at rush hour in the space of just 60 minutes. We monitored a busy cycle Lane on Victoria Embankment opposite Blackfriars station between 8:20am and 9:20am. On average three to four cyclists ignored red lights every minute and more than half failed to stop. Transport for London advises cyclists to follow the Highway Code and warns cyclists may be fined £50 for going through a red the start of 2025, 284 cyclists in the City of London have been fined for failing to stop at Griffiths is a road safety campaigner and says that more needs to be done to make dangerous cyclists realise the potentially fatal consequences of their said: "There's a reason why cars and motorbikes and lorries stop at red lights - because they have to. "They know there are consequences if they go through them. Bikes just don't seem to have that same sort of attitude or people that cycle."Gerard's mum died after colliding with a cyclist travelling at 29mph in a 20mph zone in Regent's has boomed in popularity in London over recent years and is a clean and efficient mode of transport. HS2 has suffered 'significant cost' from legal challenges by public bodies Simon Munk from London Cycling Campaign told ITV News London that some of the cycling lanes in London are overcapacity and says statistically more pedestrians ignore traffic signals.'I think it's important to understand that we shouldn't be accepting cyclists jumping red lights, but we should be working out why. We should be working out what the problem is and fixing it,' he said.'This is annoying, and it's really deeply hostile to pedestrians. These people shouldn't be doing it, but it's not actually statistically very dangerous,' Mr Munk are responsible for fewer than 1% of the pedestrian deaths on British roads and they are far more likely to be killed than to kill, according to campaign group Cycling UK.A bill is currently going through parliament to bring the 1861 law up to the current law, if cyclists strike and kill a pedestrian, offenders can be imprisoned for no more than two years under the ancient proposed amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill means dangerous cyclists could face up to 14 years in MP Iain Duncan Smith has campaigned on the issue and said the proposal was not "anti-cycling" but is intended to ensure safety and accountability on the roads. ITV News spoke to pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists who all agreed on one thing - that more needs to be done to ensure peop le obey the rules of the road.
