British doctor performs 'miraculous' mid-air delivery after passenger goes into labour aboard Wizz Air flight
11 March 2024, 13:51 | Updated: 11 March 2024, 13:54
A British doctor has performed what he describes as a 'miraculous' mid-air delivery after a pregnant passenger went into labour aboard a London-bound flight from Jordan.
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Dr Hassan Khan was returning to London Luton Airport from a holiday in Amman, Jordan, when the woman's contractions began two hours into the Whizz Air flight.
Mr Khan, 28, who luckily had experience in neonatal resuscitation, responded to calls for a doctor by air stewards after the Jordanian woman went into labour.
The doctor, who works at Basildon Hospital in Essex, said he arrived to find the woman lying beside the cockpit door, her waters already broken.
'I told the flight attendants what equipment I needed - which would include an oxygen mask, a clamp for the umbilical chord and a stethoscope - none of which they had on a plane, of course,' Hassan said.
His neonatal expertise were said to calm the woman, who was communicating via an interpreter, after Dr Khan revealed the Jordanian passenger spoke very little english.
The woman, who is said to have gone into labour 7 months into her pregnancy, eventually gave birth to a healthy baby girl according to Dr Khan.
'People were saying it was miraculous. I only realised how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all,' he explained to the BBC.
The child was born just after 04:00GMT on Saturday morning.
Flight attendants later told the doctor that the baby was only the 75th infant to be born aboard a commercial flight.
Describing that the child came out "a little bit blue", Dr Khan said the woman had been "quite stressed" during the labour.
Due to the mid-air emergency, the Wizz Air flight was immediately diverted to Italy's Brindisi Airport - something the doctor made light of after joking that the diversion would make him late for his shift.
"I was actually late to my shift because of this diversion, but thankfully they were very impressed and wanted the full update," jested Dr Khan.
The 38-year-old mother and newborn were later given the all clear after being taken to Perrino hospital to be checked over by doctors.
However, Dr Khan's employers praised his quick-thinking at 30,000ft.
'My consultant congratulated me and said it was a really good job,' Dr Khan said following the emergency.
