Boy, 6, on solo flight to Florida ‘raped by airline worker after staff lost his passport and he had to stay in hotel’
A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy flying alone to the US was allegedly raped and left with 'traumatic injuries' by an airline worker after staff lost his travel documents on a stopover, a lawsuit says.
The unaccompanied child is said to have been attacked by an employee of South American carrier LATAM Airlines in a hotel while travelling from Brazil to Orlando, Florida in May, 2018.
His mom had put her son's Brazilian and US passports and travel documents in a folder around his neck before his LATAM flight from Belo Horizonte.
But the boy had to be put in a hotel overnight when airline staff couldn't find his travel papers during a transfer in São Paulo.
An flight attendant is said to have removed the folder and put it in the child's backpack.
Brazilian cops in Sao Paolo refused to allow him on the Florida-bound connecting flight without the travel documents.
'HOTEL RAPE' HORROR
By the time the documents were found the jet had taken off, the lawsuit said.
The boy was then taken to a nearby hotel with four airline workers who took turns supervising him over 15 hours, it is claimed.
One of the male employees then allegedly sexually assaulted the boy, the lawsuit said.
The boy's father has filed a negligence lawsuit against LATAM in excess of $75,000 damages in Florida's Middle District.
LATAM,...had actual knowledge of the risk to unaccompanied minor children during lengthy layovers
Lawsuit
It accuses the Chile-based carrier of failing to train its employees, minimise risk and protect the man's son.
The lawsuit said: “LATAM, and the airline industry generally, had actual knowledge of the risk to unaccompanied minor children during lengthy layovers, and that unaccompanied minors who are negligently cared for could result in assaults of children."
It clamied LATAM had failed to "furnish suitable, proper, and safe means to transport the unaccompanied minor".
The boy had suffered 'traumatic injuries' as a result of the 'defendant airline’s wilful misconduct or, alternatively, an accident that defendant, LATAM, did not take all necessary measures to avoid.'
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A spokesman for LATAM told DailyMail.com it had not been slapped with a lawsuit.
The company said: "However, it takes any allegation of this nature seriously and will cooperate with any resulting investigation."
The Sun has contacted LATAM for comment.
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