Toddler discovered in suitcase in bus luggage hold
A two-year-old girl has been found alive after she was discovered in a suitcase stored in the luggage compartment of a bus.
The bus driver found the girl on Sunday after noticing movement inside the bag during a planned stop in Kaiwaka – 60 miles north of Auckland, New Zealand – when a passenger asked for access to the luggage compartment.
They opened the suitcase and subsequently discovered the little girl.
The child was found in the luggage compartment. Pic: InterCity/Entrada Travel Group
According to Detective Chief Simon Harrison, the child was said to be ‘very hot, but otherwise appeared physically unharmed’.
The toddler was taken to hospital, where she remained on Sunday to undergo an extensive medical assessment.
It is unclear how long the girl was in the suitcase or which cities the bus was travelling between.
The toddler was ‘very hot’ but ‘physically unharmed’. Pic: Shutterstock
An unnamed 27-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with ill-treatment or neglect of a child.
DCI Harrison said further charges are not being ruled out and children’s services have also been informed.
The woman appeared at North Shore District Court on Monday, where court documents seen by Stuff, a New Zealand news website, allege the woman had been travelling from Whangārei to Auckland on a bus and had placed the child in a closed suitcase in the bus stowaway.
The toddler was taken to hospital, where she remained on Sunday to undergo an extensive medical assessment. Pic: Getty Images
The court papers say her actions were ‘likely to cause adverse effects to health including suffocation, dehydration, carbon monoxide poisoning, heat exhaustion, psychological trauma’ to the child.
The woman’s lawyer requested her client remain anonymous and be remanded before having to enter a plea.
The defendant will return to the same court on Tuesday.
Entrada Travel Group, which operates New Zealand’s national bus line, InterCity, told NBC: ‘Police were called to respond and are investigating the matter. No one was harmed during the incident, and the service resumed.’
InterCity states on its website that children up to two years old can travel for free on an adult’s lap.
Children aged three and older require a child ticket and need to travel with a guardian.
DCI Harrison praised the InterCity bus driver as he ‘noticed something wasn’t right and took immediate action, preventing what could have been a far worse outcome’.
