A Turkish Airlines flight landed with one more passenger than it took off with after a baby was born mid-air with the help of the airline’s crew.
The airline said in a statement that a passenger Nafi Diaby, who was 28 weeks pregnant, complained of birthing pains during the flight over West Africa from Conakry in Guinea to Burkina Faso’s capital city of Ouagadougou on Friday. The airline said its cabin crew rushed to help deliver a baby girl named Kadiju.
Flight attendant Bouthayna Inanir said at a press conference that Diaby delivered the baby standing up with the help of cabin crew.
“I picked up the baby…and gave her to the mother. We asked, ‘Is she bleeding? Are the mother and child all right?’ And they said they were both very well … so it was decided to continue to the destination,” said Inanir.
Photos released by the airline show the crew smiling for photos with Kadiju and Diaby, who was lying across a row of three seats.
According to the airline, Kadiju was born over Mali airspace.
The policies for flying while pregnant differ for each airline, but Turkish Airlines allows women between 28 and 35 weeks to fly with a doctor’s note.
The pair was taken to a hospital once the plane landed in Burkina Faso and the airline says both are doing well.
— With files from the Associated Press