Sri Lankan woman for the first time gives birth to a baby on aircraft

A Sri Lankan mother had given birth to a baby within Air Arabia Airways which was heading towards Sri Lanka from United Arab Emirates.

    She was a pregnant mother of 8 months and had embarked on this journey and about 5 weeks ahead had been the date given to her. The birth of the child therefore had taken place rather unexpectedly. She had told the air hostess that she was having a pain in the spinal area and later a person knowledgeable in medicine had suspected her case and asked her whether she was pregnant, to which question she had replied in the positive. However, as her condition had aggravated the air hostess had been kind enough to provide facilities necessary on that occasion immediately.

    When they had shouted out and pleaded for assistance and even asking for help from somebody who was able to provide it, 3 foreigners had come forward after which they had taken her to a more comfortable seat. Because her condition was somewhat serious, the pilots of the airplane had decided to land the plane in Muscat, Oman --deviating from their scheduled landing base in New Delhi, India.

   The pilots were advised to fly at a lower elevation in case the baby was unanticipatedly born in the plane itself as in such circumstances a possible lack of oxygen might occur and incidentally 10 minutes prior to the landing in Oman the baby was born to the Sri Lankan mother.At that moment, those in the plane at that time had given immense support for a successful delivery and it was reported that the health of both the mother and child was satisfactory.

   Subsequently, authorities of Air Arabia had taken necessary steps to admit the mother and baby to a hospital in Oman. The birth of a baby within the aircraft was a matter of happiness to members of its staff and it was a special feature that they had celebrated the moment with applause when they heard the first cry of of the baby. The child born was a baby boy.

   The name and other particulars of the Sri Lankan mother who delivered the baby has still not been reported. The above details were given by the only other Sri Lankan who was on that flight after returning to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jagath Wickramaarachchi.

   It was also reported that as the baby was born on the flight, he would be granted permanent citizenship in Arabia.