A Bradford woman arrived in Amsterdam for a holiday – only to find she had accidentally packed her kitten.

Helen Wilmore, 36, opened her suitcase and three-month-old Beauty clambered out, reports the Yorkshire Post.

The mother-of-two said: “We’d been traveling for about 21 hours when I finally got round to opening my suitcase and out popped the cat.

“I couldn’t believe it and I still can’t take it in now how she managed to survive being stuck in there all that time – she must have used up quite a few of her nine lives.

“We’d been delayed at Leeds-Bradford Airport for about 15 hours and Beauty had been in the luggage for that time and she’d been in the hold the whole time, probably with other suitcases being thrown on top of her. I’m thinking I should rename her Lucky.”

But Beauty’s luck looks as if it is about to come to an end as Helen has been forced to hand her over to a cat sanctuary.

“The cousin who I was staying with isn’t allowed cats so I had no choice but to take her to a cat sanctuary,” she said.

“It would be at least six months because of quarantine before I could get her back but she’d have to have lots of jabs and rabies checks, then I’d have to get her a passport and pay for her to be flown back – I just can’t afford it.”

A spokesperson at Leeds-Bradford International Airport said: “The passenger’s suitcase will have gone through the checks and processes that are in place to screen hold luggage.

“This process is designed to detect items that may prove a threat to aircraft. An animal would not be detected by the system as it would not be deemed as a threat.”