US military medics helped the woman deliver her baby into the cargo hold of the plane.
Berlin:
An Afghan woman gave birth to a girl on a US military plane shortly after arriving on an evacuation flight to Germany, the US Air Force tweeted Sunday.
During the flight from a Middle East takeoff base, the woman went into labor and started experiencing complications, it said.
“The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase the air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilize and save the mother’s life,” the US Air Mobility Command later said on Twitter.
Immediately after landing at Ramstein base, U.S. military medics helped the woman move her baby into the plane’s cargo hold.
Mother and child were then transferred to a nearby medical facility “and are in good condition,” it said.
Footage released by the US military shows the mother lying on a stretcher and being carried off the plane by US soldiers at the base in southwestern Germany.
A week after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, evacuation operations from abroad continue under extreme conditions marked by scenes of panic and despair at the Kabul airport.
About 17,000 people have been evacuated by the US since Aug. 14, including 2,500 Americans, the US government said earlier.
The US got the green light from Berlin to send some of the evacuees to Germany, where it has a number of bases.
About 1,150 people landed at the Ramstein base on Saturday, from where they are expected to leave for the United States within days, a base spokesman said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)