Special delivery made in midflight

BOSTON, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A trans-Atlantic passenger manifest was one person off when it landed in Boston after a woman delivered a baby in midflight.

What began as a typical seven-hour international flight Wednesday from Amsterdam with passengers from Europe and India became a scene from a made-for-TV movie when the crew called for a doctor because of a medical emergency, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

"Everybody was there to help," said Dr. Natarajan Raman, a radiation oncologist from Minneapolis who helped deliver the child. "People offered baby food, people brought things, people vacated their seats."

Dr. Paresh Thakkar, medical director of the Methuen (Mass.) Health & Rehabilitation Center who also helped with the delivery, told the Globe he examined the 8 1/2 month pregnant Ugandan woman and felt the baby's head.

When asked about landing the plane, the former emergency room physician said, "'No, it's an emergency and we will do it here.'"

Thirty minutes later somewhere over Canada the 6 1/2-pound baby girl named Sasha was born.

The baby and mother were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they were reported in good condition.