12-Year-Old Safe In Queens After Disappearing From D.C. Airport

QUEENS, NY -- A 12-year-old girl who police originally said was abducted at the Reagan Washington National Airport this week was found safe with her parents in Queens on Friday, authorities said.

Virginia State Police issued an amber alert for JinJing Ma, who was visiting the U.S. from China, after she got separated from her tour group inside the airport at about 8:15 a.m. on Thursday.

The girl was getting ready to board a flight to the West Coast with her tour group when she said she needed to use the restroom and never returned, police said. She was initially believed to have been kidnapped after surveillance tapes showed her leaving the airport with an "unknown middle-age Asian female," who helped her change clothes before they climbed in a white Infiniti SUV driven by a man.

The two "strangers" ended up being Ma's parents, who hadn't seen their daughter since they moved to the U.S. from China two years ago, CBS News reported. Her parents now reside in New York City, and their daughter has been living with relatives in China since they left, their lawyer Anna Demichik told the outlet.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority announced Friday that the girl was found safe in her parents' custody, and said the FBI would take over the ongoing investigation.

"We are grateful that JinJing is safe and with family," said Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Chief David Hutcher.

"Our goal was to locate her to ensure she was safe and unharmed, and we accomplished that goal. "

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also announced the good news in a celebratory tweet Friday afternoon, which thanked their nearly 80,000 followers for sharing her poster.

"Without your help, we wouldn't be able to bring you this fantastic news!" the organization tweeted.

Lead photo via Virginia State Police Department