The Great Escape: Seven-year-old runaway boards plane at Geneva airport before being spotted by police

The Great Escape: Seven-year-old runaway boards plane at Geneva airport before being spotted by police
By Cristina Abellan Matamoros
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The seven-year-old girl was able to avoid all security checks from the train to the plane.

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A seven-year-old runaway girl managed to board an Easyjet flight before police spotted her after her father reported her missing on Saturday October 29, said La Tribune de Genève.

According to the reconstruction of events, the girl boarded a train to Geneva airport at around 1:30pm and arrived at the airport a few minutes later where authorities do not monitor the public entry.

The girl then entered the French sector and passed through customs where officials are not always present because in the Schengen area identity checks are not always required.

However, the girl also managed to pass through the security gates without a boarding pass.

Airport spokesman, Bertrand Stämpfli told the local paper that surveillance cameras show that the girl was not asked for a boarding pass at any moment.

“[The girl] always managed to make it seem like she was with the adults behind or in front of her,” said Stämpfli.

When the time to board the plane came, the girl tried to sneak in with the cabin crew but was sent back. On her second try, she managed to board the plane by avoiding the usual channels and “sneaking in through a passage only accessible to a child of her size,” said the spokesman.

Once on the plane, she was spotted by police who made her disembark.

But Stämpfli is not looking to blame someone in particular for the incident.

“We should not put responsibility on one or the other, we must take collective responsibility.”

Easyjet, Swissport, and the family of the girl declined to comment on the story.

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