'Mother tries to flush newborn down plane toilet'

A woman gave birth to a baby in the washroom of an international passenger plane and tried to dispose of it down the toilet, media reports in New Delhi said today.

A woman gave birth to a baby in the washroom of an international passenger plane and tried to dispose of it down the toilet, media reports in New Delhi said on Thursday.

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The infant was found stuck in the toilet after the plane landed in Amritsar, northern India, and was rushed to hospital still attached to the toilet bowl, police and doctors told Press Trust of India.

HP Singh, a doctor at the Escorts Hospital near the airport, said that a team of surgeons used a saw cutter to remove the newborn's head from the toilet.

The 22-year-old mother was reported to have left the plane when it landed, and was later arrested in the airport after the cabin crew on the Turkmenistan Airlines flight found her baby.

Doctors at the hospital said the infant was in a critical condition.

Newspapers reported the mother was an unmarried medical student returning home after completing a degree abroad.

The origin of the flight was unclear, though the Indian Express said it had taken off from the city of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.