Girl Missing From Reagan Airport Before Flight To Bay Area Found With Parents

WASHINGTON (KPIX) -- A girl from China who disappeared from Reagan National Airport before she was supposed to travel to the Bay Area with her school group has been found.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said 12-year-old Jinjing Ma was safely recovered on Friday.

According to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Jinjing was located in the New York City borough of Queens.

Anna Demichik, a legal counselor for JinJing's parents, told CBS News that the girl was not abducted and that her parents, not strangers, picked her up at the airport. Demichik said the parents have met with FBI investigators and that the investigation is ongoing.

The parents have been living in the United States for two years, according to Demichik. They currently live in the New York City area and hadn't seen their daughter in at least two years. She had been living with relatives in China during that time.

Since the girl is in the U.S. on a visa issued for a tour group trip she was traveling with, there is no immediate rush to send her back to China, according to Demichik. She will be staying in New York with the parents.

"We are grateful that Jinjing is safe and with family. Our goal was to locate her to ensure she was safe and unharmed, and we accomplished that goal," Chief David Huchler of the Metro Washington Airports Authority said in a statement.

An Amber Alert was issued after Jinjing disappeared from the airport near Washington, DC on Thursday. Police said the group was getting ready to depart for the West Coast after sightseeing in Washington and New York, and that before going through security, she girl told her group she needed to use the restroom.

Surveillance video showed Jingjing leaving the terminal with a woman. The two are then seen possibly getting into a white Infiniti QX60 SUV with New York license plates, driven by a man.

"Critical missing, extreme danger. We have a 12-year-old girl, we don't know where she is. We don't know who she's with," Huchler said at a news conference before she was recovered. "I'll let you decide how you want to call that, but for us, this our priority number one, it's of the utmost importance."

The rest of the group continued with their trip to San Francisco.