Doctors deliver baby on plane

DARWIN, Australia, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- An Adelaide, Australia, doctor said she helped deliver a baby boy on a Hong Kong-to-Adelaide plane after the mother went into labor in mid-flight.

Dr. Judith Hamel, a general practitioner who works in the town of Happy Valley, said airline staff informed her and three other doctors on the plane that a female passenger had gone into labor and the four medical professionals worked together to ensure a safe delivery, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Thursday.

"There were four of us: one surgeon; one orthopedic surgeon; one kidney specialist; and a humble GP who was the only one who'd done very much in the way of deliveries, so I got that end," Hamel said.

"I got the operative end, one got the comforting end, the 'breathe, breathe, breathe' end, and the other got the looking-after-the-baby end," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I think we all had fun once we knew it was all safe."

The plane made an unplanned landing in Darwin, Australia, and the new mother and her baby boy were taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Doctors at the hospital said the boy, who was born six weeks early, was healthy and weighed about 6 pounds, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said.