Dutch flag carrier KLM last year cancelled tickets bought by the state for two children who were due to be deported to Armenia, a justice ministry report shows.

The tickets were cancelled the evening before the deportation of Lili and Howick had been scheduled in September 2018, and a senior KLM manager had phoned the deportation service personally to break the news, the Telegraaf reported on Friday.

KLM has confirmed the story to the Telegraaf. ‘All we can state is that we do a risk analysis before every deportation,’ the airline said.

Deportation officials then found another airline willing to take the children but by then it was too late, and they had vanished from the radar. They were actually living with their grandparents.

The children’s disappearance led then-junior justice minister Mark Harbers to use his right of discretion to grant residency permits to the two children, after saying their welfare and safety could not be guaranteed.

Lili, 12, and Howick, 13, had lived in the Netherlands for 10 years when officials decided to deport them and their mother, but did not meet the conditions for the child amnesty.

Their mother had already been sent back to Armenia in 2017 but has since been given leave to return.