4-year-old US girl boards bus at midnight in search of slushie

New York, Mar 30: A 4-year-old girl in the US has grabbed media headlines when she slipped out of her house in the middle of the night and boarded a bus in search of a sugary slushie, a flavored frozen drink.

A man spotted the wandering child on the sidewalk in Philadelphia and flagged down a bus.

The strawberry blond girl, dressed in a purple raincoat and pajama pants, surprised passengers and the bus driver when she climbed aboard the early morning ride.

Surveillance video showed the little girl hop up the steps as bewildered passengers quiz her about her plans. "All I want is a slushie," the girl said, according to a passenger.

Driver Harlan Jenifer said he was "shocked" to see the girl riding solo. "She had her mind set," the driver was quoted as saying by the New York Daily News. Jenifer pulled over and called police.

Authorities took the pint-size passenger, identified as Annabelle, to a hospital where she was reunited with her parents. The parents of the girl said they did not know that their daughter had slipped out the back door in search of her favourite beverage at a nearby convenience store, ABC News reported.

"I will take you to buy a slushie," mother Jaclyn Mager told her daughter, who asked again for the drink. "But... promise me next time you'll wait for me, okay?," she told her daughter.

PTI