Have you ever heard of a miracle where a plane lands with an extra passenger, to the jubilation of both crew and passengers?
Well it has happened.
Maybe she will be a pilot when she grows up or for how else can you explain that she was born in a plane?
It rarely happens. Mother goes into labour pains while on air and fifteen minutes after the plane touches down, she gives birth to a bouncing baby girl. Amazing.
A Kenya Airways in-flight crew delivered a baby girl on board a flight that had just landed from Muscat, Oman in Nairobi on Thursday last week.
Baby Zahra, as she was promptly named will definitely be excited to learn that the plane alley was quickly converted into a delivery room, and the attendants turned midwifes to ensure her safe arrival ito the world.
The national carrier said on Monday that the mother and baby were “doing fine.”
“A well trained Kenya Airways In Flight crew delivered the bouncing baby girl at 0227 GMT, following a flight from Dubai via Muscat KQ 317 to Nairobi,” the airline said.
According to report by Xinhua, the crew, composed of Flight Purser Josephine Towett, flight attendants Oscar Heho, Mitchell Ongeso, Anthony Kuria and Muriithi, Captain Hamdan and first officer Muiruri, were cheered by passengers after they successfully midwifed the delivery.
“The crew laid the woman in the aisle in economy class while others held up a blanket to create a makeshift delivery room. Flight attendants were assisted by a KQ Nurse Juliana Maithya,” reads Xinhua’s the report in part.
Kenya Airways Chief Operating Officer Bram Stellar confirmed on Monday that the baby had been successfully delivered while the aircraft was on the ground at the airport.
The captain and first officer waited for the baby to be born before disembarking.
He said everybody was calm, cool and “doing what we had to do.” It was the first time that such an event occurred for the crew for Kenya Airways. Wrapped in a passenger’s blanket, the baby was held by a crew member. He said the baby was about 4 kg.
“It was already a packed flight from Muscat to Nairobi but passengers and crew were more than happy to make room for one extra person when the lady gave birth to a baby girl, whom we promptly named Zahra,” he said.
“Within 15 minutes the baby had been born. We are happy that the birth was normal and the mother and baby are fine,” Stella said.
