[DiamondSmiles]

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Baby Who Died in Airport Conveyor Belt Tragedy Couldn't Have Been Saved

by Kiri Blakeley
cafemom

Yesterday, our collective jaws dropped in horror and shock at the story of the mom who put her baby on an airport conveyor belt in Spain, only to see him whisked away to his death.

There were many questions. How could this happen? Aren't conveyor belts notoriously slow? Why couldn't help be gotten? Why couldn't the mom or someone else grab the child?

Well, now some answers are coming out. And it's still just as horrific -- possibly more so, because reportedly the mom did NOT place her baby on the carousel. She dropped the baby accidentally. It's the kind of thing that could have happened to any one of us.

Confusion set in over the logistics of a baby disappearing down a luggage chute. Most of us have been at the airport and wearily retrieved our bags from the slow-as-molasses carousel. Only, you know how slow it is until suddenly your bag is right in front of you, and unless you are poised like an Olympic swimmer diving into a pool, it goes right by you and you are left jogging after it.

Well, this was apparently much worse. The belt, (pictured in the original source story), is flat and reportedly moves extremely fast. The mom, (who has been identified as American), was standing near it with her 5-month-old and older child when her stroller got stuck in the chute.

She reportedly climbed onto it, with her baby in hand, and then accidentally stepped on a mechanism that set the belt in motion. She was carrying her baby at the time, in a baby carrier, and she lost her balance and both of them fell onto the belt.

This explains why she couldn't grab the baby, who was quickly whisked under the chute and trapped, suffering head injuries that instantly killed him.

Now, yes, there are still questions. If the stroller was stuck, doesn't that mean the belt was moving? If so, did she step on a moving belt?

Reports make it sound like the belt was stationary when she stepped on it, so it could be that it was moving and then came to a halt when the stroller got stuck. Or sometimes these belts will stop and start. There were signs warning of ,"risk of entrapment," as well as emergency stop buttons, but this didn't stop this devastating incident from occurring.

Of course, it's not necessarily the smartest thing in the world to stand on a conveyor belt with a baby in hand, but she probably thought she could quickly retrieve the stroller without incident. Additionally, the baby was in a carrier, so she thought she had a good handle on him.

Witnesses said the tragedy only took seconds. The mom simply had no time to react. Reportedly, her husband was with her at the time, but may not have been near her when it happened. And besides, aren't moms accustomed to doing it all? Let's face it, we often don't ask for help, for even the smallest things, because we get so used to doing everything.

Add in possible exhaustion and jet lag, and this was one small poor choice that led to tragedy.

[Megamel29]

Just awful. Sounds like it was just a really horrific accident. At least the baby probably didn't suffer much.

[DiamondSmiles]

Posted by Lisa Fogarty
cafemom.com

September 19, 2014

Almost one year ago, we were horrified to learn that a 5 month old baby was killed after her mother placed her in a car seat on a stationary luggage conveyor belt at an airport in Spain and then couldn't remove her in time after the belt began moving. The belt reportedly threw her out of her seat, and she died after landing in a gap between two conveyor belts.

Mom Nathania Terry has launched a lawsuit against Vanderlande Industries, a Netherlands-based global luggage supplier for airports, for wrongful death, negligence, design defects, and failure to warn. She claims the belt turned on suddenly and without warning, and that there was no way for her to turn it off -- and no way for her to save her baby's life.

Last September, Terry, who is American, was traveling from London to Spain and arrived at the airport with her two children -- one of whom was infant Vashti Terry. The mom says she placed Vashti on a conveyor belt that wasn't moving so that she could retrieve a stroller at the end of the belt.

But the next thing Terry knew, the belt suddenly turned on and little Vashti was thrown between an area where two belts abutted -- despite her efforts to try and rescue her baby, she was crushed to death.

I'm torn over this mom's lawsuit and whether I think she has a strong argument. On the one hand, though many of us wouldn't take a chance like this with our babies, if there was no signage near the belt that warns people of how dangerous and fast moving the conveyor is, I suppose she could argue that she didn't realize it would be unsafe.

Terry claims the conveyor belt had a sensor that activated it as soon as it detected an object had been placed on top of it. Again, if this is the case, I can't imagine why a sign wouldn't have been placed near the belt warning travelers about this.

A better argument here might be: why wasn't a warning provided prior to when the belt began moving? I can't remember a time I didn't hear a sound -- almost like a shrill alarm -- go off right before the belt started moving and pushing luggage out. But if this is done as a courtesy in certain airports, but isn't a requirement, then -- again -- I'm not sure Terry's attorneys can successfully win with this point.

Vanderlande says it will not comment on pending litigation, but Spanish authorities said last year in a statement that the luggage carousel complied with safety standards and that the baby's death was due to parental neglect.

The mother was obviously at fault! Dumb ass! Really!?!!

[ousoonerchic]

That's horrible

[deanmine]

note to parents, if its mechanical, its dangerous. please keep ur shoe lace tied, ur hair tied back and ur fingers to urself

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by deanmine ↗

note to parents, if its mechanical, its dangerous. please keep ur shoe lace tied, ur hair tied back and ur fingers to urself

You never put a child before anything else!

I may err on the side of caution when they are in my care, but, so be it! They are always safe.

[GG57]

She couldn't have put the baby seat on the floor?!?! Dumbass woman.. I'm sorry her baby died, but it was her own fault for being stupid.

[GG57]

And another thing: If the baby was properly in the baby seat shouldn't she have been strapped in? If she had been strapped in she wouldn't have been thrown out of the seat. Dumb woman in more ways than one.

[luciddrmr]

It is the North American mentality. Pass the buck and sue for her own lack of common sense.

[Pigeon]

She shouldn't sue, she should be charged with negligence