A Saudia flight en route to Kuala Lumpur from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia over the weekend was forced to return to the airport mid-flight after a woman on board came to the terrifying conclusion that she'd somehow left her baby in the terminal , according to a report by The Guardian. It's unclear exactly what led up to the mother's Home Alone-esque realization, but the crew alerted the pilot, who calmly explained to air traffic controllers the bizarre and unusual situation.

In the hurried frenzy of commercial air travel, it's not hard to misplace your belongings as you're traipsing through security and getting ready to board. That's even more true if you're flying with kids. However, it's hard to believe you'd ever be so forgetful as to leave your baby in the terminal, board the plane, and take off before realizing your mistake, as one mother on a recent Malaysia-bound flight did.

“May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” the pilot can be heard saying in a recording of the audio transmission that's since gone viral online. “This flight is requesting to come back… a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing.” The controllers ask him to re-confirm the situation, to which he responds "We told you, a passenger left her baby in the terminal and refuses to continue the flight.”

There are few details regarding how the mother managed to completely forget her live, human child behind as she presumably had plenty of time to get settled on board and, you know, look around to confirm she had her kid with her. It's rare for pilots to request to turn around unless it's a medical or mechanical emergency, but this one did, and was granted permission to turn around and return.

No word on how mother and child are doing now after being reunited, but hopefully she'll be more careful next time. And if she really wants to redeem herself, maybe she'll bring along some ear plugs for fellow passengers.

h/tThe Guardian