Mother abandons her young children on a mountain in Poland to reach the summit

A mother left her two children, aged 8 and 14, alone and disoriented on a trail in the Bieszczady mountains in southern Poland so she could continue on to the summit alone. When she returned, according to the hikers who found the children, she said the kids were forcing her to give up on her goal.

The fog was thick in the **Bieszczady** mountains in southern Poland when a group of hikers heard a child crying. Beside the trail they found two brothers, aged **8 and 14**, alone and disoriented. Their mother had left them behind to keep walking to the summit.

The incident peine on a Saturday near a junction of the blue and yellow trails of **Muczne**, according to information reported by **Euronews** based on the account of the **Rzeszów** branch of the Polish Tourist and Country Lovers' Society (**PTTK**), whose members found the children.

## A cry in the middle of the fog

The hikers first heard shouting and then crying that they described as heart-wrenching. When they stopped, they came across the two brothers by the path. The younger one would not stop crying, according to the account the organisation posted on Facebook.

The children explained that their mother had told them that, if they were tired and did not want to go on, they should wait there for **15 minutes**. They had been alone considerably longer than that, according to the same source.

The concern was not just the children's age. Fog covered the trail and reduced visibility on the mountain. The hikers decided to stay with them, take charge of the situation and calm them down while they waited for the woman to return.

## The summit was an hour's walk away

The mother had continued alone towards the peak, located approximately **one hour** from the point where the children were left. She returned about **15 minutes** after the hikers found them. The little one grabbed her hand and stopped crying.

The PTTK members reproached her for leaving her children alone on the mountain in that fog. The woman replied, according to their account, that it had "only been a moment" and that she wanted to reach the summit. She added that the children were forcing her to give up the goal she had set for herself.

## Apology only after a warning about incivil consequences

The woman's attitude outraged the witnesses, who lamented her lack of reflection and remorse. One of the hikers said she only apologised when he warned her that her behaviour could have incivil consequences. He told her that she did not have to ask him for forgiveness, but her children, and the woman did not react.

Leaving minors alone in a mountain environment with reduced visibility exposes children to getting lost or having an accident. Polish law provides for liability for those who abandon minors in their care; any legal assessment of the case rests with the competent authorities.