A couple reportedly left their 10-year-old child at an airport in order to catch their trip.

The Guardia Civil, Spain’s national police, verified to USA Today that the event occurred a few days ago at the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport. According to the office, the youngster was unable to board the aircraft with his parents due to documentation problems. So, to avoid missing the flight, the parents boarded nonetheless.

The event was originally reported to Mossos d’Esquadra, the local police, who subsequently notified the Guardia Civil.

The police momentarily delayed the airplane to find the family members. When officials located the parents, they were led off the plane and transported to a police station, where the kid was detained for safety.

Mossos d’Esquadra informed the outlet that the parents had been reported for child abandonment.

The Guardia Civil and Mossos d’Esquadra did not immediately reply to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Lilian, an airport employee, made a TikTok on July 27 about the event, which became public.

“I am an air coordinator,” the TikTok user, @limasin41, says in the clip, which has been translated from Spanish to English by the platform. “As coordinator, I have seen a lot of things, but this has already been totally surreal.”

Lilian went on to say that the start of flying operations was perfectly typical. But when she went to hand off some documents, she discovered the jet had returned and parked. Lilian made her way to the plane and encountered the cops. Authorities said they learned from the youngster that his parents were traveling back to their home country following their holiday.

Lilian then phoned the pilot, who described the situation to the people on board. But no one confessed. Guardia Civil officials then boarded the plane and escorted the parents.

According to Lilian, the justification offered to the police was that the boy’s passport from his home country had expired. Instead, he was traveling using a Spanish passport, which lacked the necessary visa. So the parents asked a cousin to pick up the boy as they boarded the plane.

“For them, it was very normal,” Lilian explained. “I didn’t perceive it as normal, and neither did the cops.

After removing the parents from the airplane and taking them to the station, Lilian reported that the rest of the trip proceeded normally.

Lilian, who is a mother herself, stated that she could not imagine leaving her daughter alone at that age.

“I mean, I freak out as a mother,” she admitted. “I remember when my little child was small. “I was losing it for a second.”