There was excitement on board a c-17 cargo plane that was transporting Afgan families to Germany on Saturday after a pregnant woman went into labor mid-flight.
The unnamed mother boarded the U.S. Air Force plane with her husband and their other young child.
Mid-flight she reportedly started to experience increasingly heavy contractions that progressed into high labor. With her blood pressure dropping dangerously low as the plane approached Germany the aircraft’s commander decreased the altitude to increase the air pressure, which managed to stabilize and help save the mother’s life, the US Army Tweeted.
Medical support personnel from the 86th Medical Group help an Afghan mother and family off a U.S. Air Force C-17, call sign Reach 828, moments after she delivered a child aboard the aircraft upon landing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Aug. 21. (cont..) pic.twitter.com/wqR9dFlW1o
— Air Mobility Command (@AirMobilityCmd) August 21, 2021
When the aircraft arrived at Ramstein Air Base in Germany the 86th Medical Group rushed aboard and escorted her to a makeshift delivery room in the cargo bay, where her baby girl was delivered.
The State Department will determine where the Afgan evacuees will go next, but most are expected to travel to the United States in the next few days once they are screened for COVID-19 and medically cleared.
