London, July 26: Liam Corcoran, a 11-year-old boy, mingled with families moving through Manchester airport on Tuesday afternoon, went straight to the nearest aircraft to board, and landed in Rome, in a major security gaffe ahead of the London Olympics.
Liam had no passport, no air ticket, and no boarding pass, but somehow managed to get all the way from England to Italy, Daily Mail reported.
The boy told co-fliers, he was trying to run away from home.
CCTV images showed the boy mingled with families moving through the airport on Tuesday afternoon. He went straight to the nearest aircraft boarding, the flight to Rome, where he was also missed during a head count on board.
"This is a serious breach," transport secretary Justine Greening said.
"I treat security breaches very, very seriously. We are reviewing urgently...exactly what happened."
Liam slipped away from his mother, caught a bus to the airport three miles away and boarded a plane bound for Rome without anyone questioning what he was doing.
It was only when he began boasting that he had run away from home as the plane cruised over France that other passengers alerted cabin crew.
Meanwhile, there was panic for Liam's 29-year-old mother Mary.
Liam's father, Aaron Fort, 34, said Liam had never been on a plane before and does not have a passport.
Fort said: ‘Liam told me the first time he knew he was in a bit of trouble is when the plane started to rise off the ground. He just did what the stewardesses told him and sat in his seat with his belt on.'
Once other passengers raised the alarm, flight crew radioed details of the stowaway to colleagues on the ground.
On arrival at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Liam was kept on board while the aircraft was prepared for the return journey.
Finally, eight hours after taking off from Manchester, he was reunited with his relieved mother.
Meanwhile, airline Jet2 said it had suspended three employees who had waved Liam through and was now carrying out headcounts on all flights.
Liam's father explained that his son had been swimming with his mother in Wythenshawe, Manchester, when his adventure began on Tuesday.
Fort, who is separated from Liam's mother and lives in Blackpool, said his son had to be rescued by a lifeguard.
‘That sort of incident would have worried him,' the charity shop worker added.
‘He has some learning problems and copes differently from other children. He must have got changed and given his mother the slip.'
After his bus journey, Liam wandered into Terminal 1 at around 1pm and apparently ‘tailgated' another family preparing to go through to security.
An airport source said: ‘Often one parent has the boarding card for all their children, so the security guard should count the cards and the children, but obviously they've failed to notice there was one extra.'
Once through to the departures, he went to the first gate he could find. He is thought to have again mingled with families, and Jet2 staff failed to notice he had no documents as he took a seat.
A passenger on the return flight, Sarah Swayne, 26, from Nantwich, said: ‘He was very talkative and seemed quite unfazed by it all.'
A relative added: ‘Liam's an attention seeker, he runs away constantly. But he's never done anything like this. The little monster went off to Rome.'
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said the breach was being ‘urgently investigated', but added: ‘The boy went through full security screening so the safety of passengers was never compromised.'
A representative for Jet2 said no headcount had been carried out on Liam's flight as passengers had boarded via an airbridge, but crew had now been ordered to perform one on all flights and three staff had been suspended.
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