This is the moment two women locked a crying toddler in a plane’s toilet to ‘educate her’ after enraged passengers reportedly stuffed tissues in their ears to blank out the child’s screaming.
Footage shows the little girl crying and screaming to be let out of the small plane toilet cubicle on the Juneyao Airlines flight from Guiyang to Shanghai on August 24 while the women watch on.
The toddler, who was travelling with her grandparents, had reportedly been crying non-stop during the flight and people onboard said that she was so loud, some passengers had put tissues in their ears to block out the noise and moved to the back of the aircraft.
Passengers complained that the little girl’s grandparents seemed to have no idea how to stop her crying and attempts to distract her with a mobile phone proved unsuccessful.
The grandmother then allegedly gave permission to the women to help her calm down the child.
One of the two women, Gou Tingting, posted a video of herself carrying the toddler into the toilet on Chinese social media. She wrote in a comment to justify her actions: ‘I just wanted to educate the child and let everyone have a good rest.’
Footage shows the little girl crying and screaming in the small cubicle while the women watch on
The toddler had reportedly been crying non-stop during the flight and people onboard said that she was so loud, some passengers had put tissues in their ears to block out the noise
Passengers complained that the little girl’s grandparents seemed to have no idea how to stop her crying and attempts to distract her with a mobile phone proved unsuccessful
The girl’s grandmother had allegedly given Gou and the other woman permission to step in and take the toddler away from her grandmother.
Once in the toilet, the girl continued to cry and scream for her grandmother but she eventually stopped after the women told her that she could only see her grandmother once she stopped crying.
The little girl was also told that only when she was silent for three minutes, would she be allowed out of the toilet.
The girl was reportedly silent for the remaining two hours of the flight.
When the plane landed the police were apparently involved, but according to reports, they only lectured the grandmother about her role in what happened and had not said anything to the two women who locked the child in the plane toilet.
Chinese media reports say the girl is one year old, but this has not been confirmed by authorities.
Police said that they believe the grandmother, who was taking the girl to Shanghai to reunite her with her father, was thankful for Gou and the other woman’s interference as the toddler did not respond to anything else she tried to stop her crying.
The video of the incident sparked a online debate on how to handle children in public spaces, with many criticising the women’s actions.
A statement released by Juneyao Airlines customer service said they were aware of the incident: ‘We have also received the notification and are investigating internally.
One of the two women, Gou Tingting, posted a video of herself carrying the toddler into the toilet on Chinese social media. She wrote in a comment to justify her actions: ‘I just wanted to educate the child and let everyone have a good rest’
The women kept the child locked in the toilet cubicle until she stopped crying
‘A stranger taking a child away is also a decision by the individual and we are not making a judgement on that.
‘The flight attendant cannot be in the cabin all the time. When the child cries, we can certainly try and remind guardians to do their best to calm them down, but if the child continues to cry there is not a lot that the flight attendant can do.
‘And if during the time when the flight attendant is not around, somebody decides to act as an individual and take the child away, we accept that this is an emergency situation.
‘If the flight attendant had noticed, they would have helped the parent or guardian to sort the matter out. But the child’s family could also have asked strangers or reported it to the police.’
The police confirmed that they were aware of the incident from online comments and were in the process of handing the matter over to relevant departments.
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