Police foil German children's dash to Africa

BERLIN (Reuters) - Three German children aged five, six and seven who said they were fed up with cold weather at home set off on a voyage to Africa but only got as far as the local train station, police said on Monday.

The boy and the older girl were planning to get married in Africa and brought the girl's five-year-old sister along as a witness. They left their home in the city of Hanover, which they shared with the boy's father and the girls' mother, early on New Year's Day as their parents slept.

"The children wanted to do something really special for the New Year," said police spokesman Holger Jureczko. "They had it all planned out. They had three suitcases, filled with food, swimming costumes, a lilo and even sunglasses."

He said they took a tram to the central station and were about to board a train to the airport when police stopped them.

"They said they wanted to go to Africa 'because it's so nice and warm there'," Jureczko said. The boy had once been to Italy and convinced the girl that Africa would be even warmer, he said.

The police told the trio that it would be difficult to get to Africa without money or tickets and instead gave them a tour of the police station before handing them over to their parents.

(Reporting by Anna Brooke; editing by Sophie Hardach)