French authorities have opened an investigation after a baby was found hidden in a bag belonging to a passenger on board an Air France plane.
The French company says the 12-month-old child, who travelled with "an adult" on Air France Flight 1891 from Istanbul to Paris on Monday, did not have a valid ticket.
The BBC reported the news agency AFP saying the female adult was in the process of adopting the child from Haiti and had been prevented from boarding the flight with the baby in Instanbul.
She then allegedly bought a new ticket and placed the baby in a cloth bag, AFP reported.
A passenger named Vincent, who spoke to the French news site Planet.Fr, said he saw the baby in the bag which the woman had reportedly placed at her feet.
"The cloth bag belonged to a woman sitting at the back of the plane," he said.
"At one point she opened the bag and her neighbour on the other row of seats saw something moving inside. He alerted flight attendants, who then discovered a baby."
Air France says it requested "the presence of French authorities on the flight's arrival" to deal with the matter.
AFP reported French prosecutors have decided not to press charges in relation to the incident.
No details of the child's identity were given.
- with AAP
