Two German children, six and seven, elope for Africa
BERLIN (AFP) - Two childhood sweethearts, aged six and seven,
eloped from Hanover in northern Germany on New Year's Eve, determined
to tie the knot under the African sun, police said Monday.
The
pair identified as Mika and Anna-Lena "are very much in love and
decided to get married in Africa where it is warm, taking with them as
a witness Anna-Lena's little sister, aged five," police spokesman
Holger Jureczko told AFP.
The idea for the romantic trip began when Mika told the two girls
about his recent holiday in Italy, while their families celebrated New
Year's Eve together. "From this, the children began to make plans for
the future," Jureczko said.
As the first dawn of 2009 broke, the trio started to put these plans
into action, packing all the essentials for the journey, including
"sunglasses, swimming trunks, a lilo, summer clothes and provisions."
While their parents slept, they left their house in the suburbs of
Hanover, walked a kilometre (two-thirds of a mile) up the road to a
tram stop from where they took a tram for the central station.
Waiting for a train to the airport, they aroused the attention of a guard who contacted police.
Two officers managed to convince the young lovers that they would struggle to get to Africa without money or a plane ticket.
As a consolation, the children were given a special tour of the
police headquarters at Hanover station where they were especially taken
with the detention cells.
Their relieved parents picked them up from the station, the
spokesman said, adding: "They can still put their plan into action at a
later date."