On the move with the Bim

Runaway (8) wanders across Vienna for hours

The eight-year-old schoolgirl took the D tram from Favoriten to Nussdorf, where the terminus was. The journey took around 40 minutes. Police officers found the child at the stop.(Bild: Reinhard Holl)

Major search operation in Vienna: A girl (8) secretly left her parents' apartment in Favoriten to play in the park. Police officers then discovered the child at the Bim stop in Döbling.

It is the nightmare of all mothers and fathers when a child suddenly disappears. Parents had to fear for their eight-year-old daughter on Thursday.

On a journey of discovery
The girl had been gripped by a thirst for adventure that afternoon. She took the opportunity to open the locked front door in an unobserved moment and leave the apartment unnoticed. The girl strolled calmly to the familiar playground. When the father noticed that his daughter had gone missing, he immediately reported the incident to the police station in Zohmanngasse in Favoriten. Shortly afterwards, a large-scale search operation was launched. Police dogs and a helicopter were also deployed.

Search operation lasted four hours
Four hours later, the all-clear was given. Officers from the police station at Nußdorfer Platz discovered the little runaway at a bus stop on Heiligenstädter Straße. The eight-year-old was safely handed over to her father, whose heart was lifted when he was able to take his daughter in his arms.

The eight-year-old said that she wanted to go home from the playground and had made a mistake with the streetcar. So she took the D tram from Favoriten to Döbling.