'It's extremely dangerous': Toddler rescued from baggage conveyor belt at Newark Airport

NEWARK, N.J. -- A toddler caused quite a scare at Newark Liberty International Airport after getting onto the baggage conveyor belt at the ticketing desk and riding it all the way to the baggage room.

It was a shocking and scary situation when a 2-year-old child ended up on a conveyor belt that is meant for luggage.

The toddler gained access to the belt at the JetBlue counter on the departures level on Wednesday. Officers then found the child in the checked baggage room on the lower level -- thankfully unhurt.

"It's extremely dangerous," said Keith Jeffries, vice president for K2 Security Screening Group. "You've got diverters back there that are actually these gigantic pushers or levers, if you will, that will shove those bags down the appropriate conveyor belt, and that alone can be fatal for a small child."

It's a terrifying incident, and it's happened more than once.

In 2021, MPR News obtained surveillance video showing a 9-year-old boy who climbed onto an airport luggage belt before getting pulled inside.

The boy had wandered away from his family at the Minneapolis Airport. Delta staff stopped the belt, but the boy escaped onto another one, which eventually brought him to the screening area. He could be seen in the video crawling out and jumping down.

Then, in 2019, another toddler went for a scary ride through the Spirit baggage system in Atlanta.

The two-year-old went through the conveyor system, climbing over bags and passing inside an X-ray machine before finally going down a ramp into a large baggage screening room where TSA agents found him and called for help. He suffered cuts to his arm and a fractured hand.