A shocking incident involving two airline passengers who locked a crying baby in an airplane toilet has sparked outrage in China.
The incident occurred on August 24 on a Juneyao Airlines flight from Guiyang to Shanghai.
The incident received wide publicity this week after a video of the crying boy appeared on Chinese social media. It shows women in a closed bathroom with a crying child, who appears to be about a year old.
“They won’t let you out until you stop crying,” one of the women sitting on the toilet told a little girl who was trying to escape from her grip. The baby was crying and looking for the door, as seen in a video posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
When the baby finally stopped crying, the woman filming the video picked him up and said, “If you make any more noise, we’re going back (to the bathroom).”
The little girl was traveling with her grandparents and cried non-stop during the nearly three-hour flight, the airline said in a statement Monday.
With the grandmother’s consent, two passengers took the girl to the toilet to “restrain” her. However, the next day, following public criticism, the airline’s customer service department apologised for the incident and for the crew’s “lack of intervention”. They also condemned the behaviour of the two passengers.
“You won’t be able to get out if you keep crying!” Two female passengers, frustrated by a crying baby, #toddlertook the child to the #aircraftfrom the bathroom for a disciplinary talk after obtaining consent from the child’s grandmother, which sparked controversy. pic.twitter.com/kMGTXdjLEy
– Shanghai Daily (@shanghaidaily) August 27, 2024
One of the women who posted the video online said she wanted to ensure a “safe flight” for other passengers. However, her post quickly sparked a backlash, with many social media users accusing her of being cruel and abusing a child. The video was later removed.
Previously, Cursor wrote that a fatal incident involving a Delta plane occurred in Atlanta.
