A family fears they will be trapped on holiday for several more weeks as their daughter’s passport has vanished, costing them thousands of pounds as they wait for a replacement.
Gemma McKeown had arrived at the airport in Majorca after a week’s break with partner John Neely, their children and grandparents.
After going through check-in, their 12-year-old’s passport disappeared and she was not allowed on the plane home.
The family quickly decided Gemma and John would stay on the holiday island with their stuck daughter and son, while the grandparents travelled with their other daughter back to Belfast.
Since then they have had issues acquiring an emergency transport document and have been told they could be waiting another eight weeks, Belfast Live reports.
Gemma said: “It has cost us roughly an additional £2,500 having to stay out here for at least another week and it has just been soul destroying.
“If this is delayed much further we don't know what we will do because we cannot afford to continue to stay here.
“We are not sure what happened to my daughter's passport, we all got through check-in at the airport without a problem and then it suddenly was gone.
“We waited for hours at the airport hoping that the passport would be handed in, but it never was, and then we contacted the embassy to see what we would be able to do.
"Thankfully we had one more night of our villa left so we were able to return there for the night, but all of our luggage and bags had gone with the plane back to Belfast, so we only have what we were wearing and missing vital medicine.
"It wasn't until Monday we were able to speak to someone from the Embassy who told us that it could be up to eight weeks before the emergency travel document could be processed and that our request was in a queue.
"Now we are waiting for an interview with someone in the hopes that we can get this sorted as soon as possible and fly home this week."
Gemma says the ordeal has ruined their trip and she cannot understand why it is so difficult to get a travel document for someone to fly home in an emergency.
She added: “I understand that child travel documents may be a bit more difficult than others to sort, but how can it be that it takes this long in an emergency situation?
"Our local MP Stephen Farry has been very helpful in trying to put pressure on the Embassy and we are praying we are able to get the Saturday flight home.
"I am looking forward to getting home now far more than I ever was about going on holiday in the first place."
