A five-month-old baby was killed on a luggage conveyor belt at a Spanish airport on Thursday, CNN reported.
A spokeswoman for the Alicante airport's authority, AENA, said it is unknown how the infant ended up on the baggage belt in the first place.
"The baby was on the baggage carousel, but could not have gotten there alone. Someone had to put the baby there. I don't know how the baby got there," the unidentified spokeswoman said.
The baby's mother, an American woman, flew into the airport on Wednesday from London with the baby and another young child. The father, who is Canadian, was at the airport to pick them up.
A security officer said she heard "the mother apparently put (the baby) down on the conveyor belt when she went to reach for something. He was crushed by the conveyor belt and it killed him," but did not witness the incident herself.
First responders at the airport rushed to the scene but efforts to revive the infant were unsuccessful.
Although the death appears to be an accident, the Spanish Civil Guard said they will perform an investigation.
"We are still in the early stages of the investigation and looking at CCTV footage, but it seems that it was an accident," a Civil Guardsman said.
Even though the infant want pronounced dead at the airport, Spanish law required a judge to arrive at the scene before the body was removed. While the family waited for the judge, Spanish Civil Guards took statements from the parents.
A spokesman from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid said they were aware of the situation and are providing assistance to the family.
A spokeswoman from the Canadian Embassy in Madrid declined to comment and directed all inquiries to the Canadian government's Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa.
