Russian budget airline Pobeda is under investigation after refusing to let a disabled child and his mother board a flight in Moscow.
The two-year-old boy, who has cerebral palsy, was barred from a flight to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on April 14.
Pobeda employees told the child’s mother that the airline had to be informed in advance before “transporting a child with a serious illness.”
The company has since said that the decision was made due to “a malfunction with passenger data" and that the woman and her son were offered an alternative flight departing the next day.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, announced on Monday that it would be investigating the incident.
"Rosaviatsia will be working to verify the circumstances of this ugly incident, which is unprecedented against the ongoing drive by public organizations, the Russian government and federal executive bodies to create a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities," the organization said in a statement on its website.
