Woman in transit delivers baby boy at airport

A young woman who was transiting through Dubai gave birth to a premature baby boy at the airport.

According to Major General Ismail Al Gergawi, Director of the General Directorate of Ports and Airports, the woman gave birth early on Sunday morning.

"The airport police received a report that a woman was unconscious at the arrival hall," he said. "Officers immediately rushed over and discovered that the woman was in labour."

They summoned the medical team, which rushed to help her through the delivery. "She had already given birth by the time they took her to the hospital," said Al Gergawi.

Wajiha Rubaba, a Pakistani in her late teens, had arrived from Frankfurt on an Emirates flight. "She had arrived on a 94 hour visa," said Major General Al Gergawi.

Wajiha told Gulf News that she comes from Islamabad and her husband is a shoemaker from Faisalabad. They are very poor, so she had gone to Poland with her brother after marriage in search of a better life. She was already pregnant at the time.

"I didn't like it there. I was mistreated. I wanted to go back to Pakistan," said Wajiha, who does not speak a word of English.

So after seven months, her brother sent her back with his friend Tareq. She claims the doctors in Poland told her it was OK to travel in her condition. "I started having labour pains at the passport control section of the airport in Dubai," said Wajiha.

Two UAE national women working at passport control rushed over to help her. After the birth, she was taken to Al Wasl Hospital, where the premature baby was transferred to the Special Baby Care Unit.

According to officials at Al Wasl Hospital, the still unnamed baby is doing fine and is expected to be discharged on Monday.

Wajiha is staying at the Airport Hotel. She is penniless and has no documents. Tareq returned to Pakistan, promising to send her the necessary papers to register the baby.

"I don't know how I will pay the hospital bills. I have no money," she lamented.