News

Actions

Flight diverted as baby is born on Southwest Airlines plane

Posted at 2:18 AM, Dec 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-06 03:40:05-05
 
A Southwest Airlines flight was diverted Sunday after a woman onboard went into labor, giving birth to her baby mid-flight.
 
The flight, which left from Philadelphia and was bound for Orlando Florida, was diverted to Charleston, South Carolina when the woman went into labor about 90 minutes after the plane took off, USA Today reports.
 
Crew members and medical personnel on board assisted with the delivery.
 
“Medical personnel onboard assisted with the delivery,” Southwest spokeswoman Melissa Ford said in a statement. “Emergency medical technicians met the flight upon landing and transported the parents and baby to an area hospital.”
 
Southwest flight 556 reportedly landed in Charleston at about 4:30 p.m. local time. The other 132 passengers remained on the plane until it departed to their final destination a little over an hour later.
 
Passenger Izzy Gould tweeted a video from the plane in which the baby can be heard crying, adding that the flight crew “did a great job.”