A flight attendant working for Alaska Airlines saved a young girl from human trafficking by leaving her a note in the bathroom.
Shelia Fedrick is being branded a hero by all, after her quick thinking saved a teen thought to be just 14 or 15-years-old on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco.
Fedrick, 49, from Alabama, believed something was amiss when she spotted the dishevelled blonde girl with greasy hair, who was travelling with a well-dressed older man.
According to NBC, Fedrick said the girl ‘looked like she had been through hell’. The empathetic attendant cautiously approached the pair and engaged in conversation, but when the man became defensive, alarm bells rang in Shelia’s head.
Fedrick said she saved the girl by leaving her a note in the bathroom, telling NBC:
I left a note in one of the bathrooms. She wrote back on the note and said ‘I need help.’
Shelia immediately told the pilot of the young girl’s cry for help and the police were contacted. They were waiting in the terminal to question the alleged trafficker when the plane landed.
Shelia was able to spot the trafficker and his victim thanks to training sessions provided by Airline Ambassadors, which enables flight attendants to spot suspicious circumstances, identify traffickers and perhaps even save the lives of young victims.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 2,000 human traffickers and identified 400 victims last year alone.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.