Mother gives birth on Dubai RTA bus: 3 other cases of childbirth in flights, car in UAE

A miracle recently happened on a double-decker bus when a Ugandan mother gave birth to a healthy baby while on transit from Dubai to Ajman.

It was a natural delivery and both the mother and her newborn are in good health, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) confirmed on Thursday, tweeting a photo of RTA female staff and lady bus drivers visiting and sharing gifts with the mother and child.

However, this was not the first time that such a rare birth happened. Here are some other instances of miracle birth aboard different vehicles.

Birth at 35,000 feet

In January this year, a woman gave birth mid-air on an Emirates flight from Japan to Dubai. The cabin crew responded swiftly and systematically assisted the birth during the 12-hour journey that continued uninterrupted to Dubai. The mother and child were given appropriate medical assistance upon landing.

That was not the very first time also that a mother gave birth on an Emirates flight to and from Dubai. In May 2020, at the height of expatriate repatriation during Covid-19 pandemic, a healthy baby was born en route to Lagos to repatriate Nigerians stranded in the UAE.

EK783 flight was already in the air for half-an-hour when it was ordered to return to Dubai International Airport (DXB). The aircraft was changed and re-departed for Lagos a few hours later. The mother and child remained and were reported to be in the pink of health.

Cabin attendants delivering a baby

A month later, in June 2020, a Filipina gave birth on a special Manila-bound repatriation flight by Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Agnes Pagaduan, then PAL country manager for the UAE, said flight PR 659 had 294 passengers, of which 25 were pregnant.

“It was one — if not the most — stressful and yet fulfilling experiences in my life," Filipino pilot Fidel Guzman Ala, who served as second officer of the flight, recalled on his Facebook post.

He added: "As there were no doctors on board, I had to call one through SatPhone (satellite phone) and had to very carefully relay all those medical terms to the cabin attendants delivering the baby.”

The good thing was that three of the cabin crew were registered nurses and Ala called Med-Air that linked him to an accredited doctor who provided medical guidance, including step-by-step procedure for cutting the newborn’s umbilical cord.

The baby boy was delivered smoothly and was named Ali, which means elevated, most high or exalted in Arabic.

The flight captain made an emergency landing in Bangkok for medical check-up before resuming the flight to Manila.

“It was an extraordinary situation. A celebration of a brand new life, welcomed into this world above 30,000 feet,” PAL said in a statement.

Born in backseat of car

Four years ago, in April, a baby was born in a car that was on the way to the hospital. This type of birth is known as BBA or 'born before arrival' (to the hospital).

The car stopped right in front of the emergency entrance of Medcare Hospital Sharjah and the staff were surprised there was a baby who had just been born — crying and wrapped in a blanket on the mother's chest.

Doctors and nurses rushed to the scene and cut the umbilical cord before transferring both the healthy mother and child to the maternity ward.

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