A family could be "stuck in Majorca for weeks" after their daughter's passport went missing.
Gemma McKeown was looking forward to jetting off on holiday with her partner John Neely and their children to Spain. After a relaxing time, the family found themselves in a nightmare after they say their 12-year-old daughter's passport went missing after check-in.
This meant she was unable to board the plane to get home. Staying with their daughter, Gemma and John said they have since had difficulty in getting emergency travel documents they need from the British Embassy and that it could take up to eight weeks, Belfast Live reports.
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Gemma said the passport was "suddenly gone" after they got through check-in at the airport without any issues. Despite "waiting for hours" in the hopes the passport would be handed in, it never was.
She added: "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.
"Because we didn't have it, my daughter couldn't get onto the plane so we decided that John and I would stay back with her and his son while my other daughter went home with her grandparents, so at least she wasn't stuck here with us."
The family's luggage and bags had gone with the plane back to Belfast as they were left with just the clothes they were wearing, and were without vital medication. After being told it could be up to eight weeks before the emergency travel document could be processed, the family tried their luck with the Irish Embassy.
Gemma added: "It shocked us to hear that if my daughter had an Irish passport we would have had a document that day. 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 said 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. Having forked out an extra £2,500 to stay for another week, she said the whole experience has been "soul destroying".
She said: "If this is delayed much further we don't know what we will do because we cannot afford to continue to stay here. 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."
The ECHO has previously reported on delays with passport documentation causing stress for holiday-goers right across the UK. One dad spoke out about his five-month battle to renew his daughter's passport and said people were in tears as they queued outside Liverpool Passport Office.
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