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TORONTO — Niagara Regional Police are appealing for help from the public in finding a New York couple whose baby was freed from a locked hotel safe in Niagara Falls.

Police say a Brooklyn, NY family were staying at the Howard Johnson hotel on Victoria Avenue when staff were alerted to a baby locked in the safe. A maintenance worker entered the room and freed the infant, who was alert and crying.

Niagara Regional police said the baby’s parents alerted the hotel about the incident at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, and a maintenance worker freed the crying child. The parents left the scene before police were notified.

“They were quite distraught and brought the cleaning staff back to the hotel room,” Det.-Sgt. Scott Kraushar said.

“Unfortunately there was a delay in contacting police, and we’re not thinking that they were trying to run, they just checked out during that time.”

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There’s no information on how the child ended up inside the safe. Police want to reach the family to check on the child’s welfare.

They are looking for a grey Ford passenger van with the New Jersey licence plate B31EUB.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Niagara Regional Police Service at 905-688-4111 x 4320.

With files from The Canadian Press.