A UAE-based couple forgot their three-year-old daughter at Dubai International Airport (DXB) after arriving from a trip abroad and didn't notice she was missing until police called asking them to pick her up.
No, this isn't a film plot but an actual incident that recently took place in Dubai.
Speaking to Gulf News, Brigadier Ali Atiq Bin Lahej, director of the General Department of Airport Security at Dubai Police, shared details of the incident.
"We found the little girl at Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport. We checked the security cameras and traced her steps and identified her family," he said.
Officers then got the parents' contact details and called them in to pick her up.
"The father was shocked when we told him that he had forgotten his daughter in the airport. He thought she was in the second car," Bin Lahej explained.
The family immediately made the drive back to the airport and were later reunited with the child.
It's not unheard of for parents to forget their kids at airports
As shocking as it is, this isn't the first time a similar incident is reported at DXB.
According to Bin Lahej, "last year an Iraqi family forgot their daughter while they were leaving the country." Officers were luckily able to reunite the child with her family before their plane took off.
In the wake of the latest incident, police officers said they've come across several other similar incidents where children were forgotten as their families rushed to get to their flights.
Airport authorities have now urged parents to always keep an eye on young children when going through airports.