Bangladeshi gives birth midair on domestic flight in Saudi Arabia
Passengers included football teams escorted by doctors who assisted in delivery of baby
Cairo: A Bangladeshi traveller had given birth to a baby aboard a domestic flight in Saudi Arabia.
The woman in her thirties was on a Saudia plane flying from the north-western city of Tabuk to the port city of Jeddah on Friday when she experienced birth pangs, Saudi news portal Sabq reported.
The plane was flying at the height of 36,000 feet when she asked the crew for help.
The passengers on board included two football teams escorted by doctors, who assisted in the birth through help from another traveller who translated medical instructions to the woman until she safely gave birth to her baby, according to Saudi news site Akhbar24.
The doctors decided not to cut the baby’s umbilical cord until a medical support team at the airport fully handled the case.
The King Abulaziz airport in Jeddah said an air control tower had reported that a woman was giving birth aboard the flight. In resonse, the aircraft pilot was guided to land to the nearest gate at the airport to provide an emergency medical assistance to the woman.
Saudi female medics handling emergencies were dispatched to offer the necessary services to the woman and her girl baby.
After ensuring both were in a stable condition, they were transferred to a local hospital.
Earlier this year, the King Abdulaziz airport became the kingdom’s first to get women medics to handle emergency cases.
The trainees attended the first course launched at the level of airports in the kingdom to qualify them to serve at the airport, a hub for overseas Muslims arriving in Saudi Arabia to undertake annual Hajj pilgrimage and Umrah or lesser pilgrimage
The course ran for three months and comprised theoretical and practical training.
Launched by the Jeddah Airports Company, the course aimed to qualify the trainees to deal with emergency and critical cases among the airport passengers, mainly the Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has vigorously pursued a drive to empower women in different walks of life as part of massive changes in the kingdom.