A 51-year-old grandmother who left her granddaughter at an airport in Houston, Texas to board a flight to Honduras has been arrested by police, a US airport spokesman said.

On Tuesday afternoon, airline employees found an 8-year-old girl, according to local media, crying and asking for her parents in a terminal at the sprawling George Bush International Airport.

The Spanish-speaking little girl explained that her grandmother, who was supervising her, left her there and went to catch her flight.

“According to the child, her parents left the airport to pick up their daughter’s passport,” which they had forgotten, Augusto Bernal, Houston Airports communications director, told AFP.

“The little girl was left alone in the check-in hall,” he said, without specifying whether the eight-year-old and her grandmother would be traveling together.

The child’s parents were able to contact the airport authorities thanks to the information provided by the little girl and returned to pick up their daughter.

The grandmother, who had already boarded the plane, got off it after airport security intervened and was taken into custody, Bernal said.