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Woman gives birth midair with crew’s help, flight makes emergency landing in Kolkata
She delivered a baby boy with help of the cabin crew.
A Qatar Airways flight had to make an emergency landing at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in Kolkata after a Thai woman delivered a boy mid-air on Tuesday.
The mother and the child were rushed to a private hospital in Kolkata. Hospital authorities said that both were doing fine.
“We got a call around 2:30 am on Tuesday. The pilot informed the Air Traffic Control of NSCBI airport about a medical emergency on board. The flight landed at 3:10 am. When the medical staff of the airport boarded the plane, they found that the woman had already delivered a boy. She was offloaded and rushed to a hospital,” said Kaushik Bhattacharya, the airport director.
The passenger was identified as Phromkasikorn Wassana. The flight QTR830 had taken off from Doha with 352 passengers and was heading towards Bangkok.
“When the flight had just crossed Nagpur the pilot informed the Kolkata ATC about the medical emergency. The woman, however, delivered the child with the assistance of air hostesses in mid-air,” said Bhattacharya.
She was shifted to the hospital around 4:25 am after immigration clearance. The flight departed from Kolkata around 5:50 am.
The news made its way onto Twitter and several people dropped replies on the post. While most congratulated the mother, some praised the cabin crew. A few also suggested names for the newborn.
“Congratulations,” wrote a Twitter user. “Name her India,” wrote another. “Good job,” wrote a third. “Welcome to the world baby,” commented a fourth.
Earlier in July, 2019, another story of a mother giving birth midair warmed up people’s hearts. A Lebanon-based flight from Doha to Beirut was diverted because a Filipino passenger onboard went into labour. The crew of the flight helped her with the delivery and she gave birth to a baby girl.
