- A Turkish Airlines flight gave birth to Mehdi, a baby boy.
- Her water broke during flight at 30,000 feet. Travel + Leisure reported.
- The mother and the flight crew were assisted by a part-time neurosurgeon.
Two weeks early, a woman had given birth to her baby while on a Turkish Airlines flight.
Travel + LeisureReports state that the woman, who was originally from Morocco, flew with her husband on the September 27, flight from Istanbul to Chicago. The flight was scheduled for two weeks before the woman’s due date. But her water broke at 30,000 feet. This prompted the cabin crew to ask passengers if they had a doctor.
Insider asked Turkish Airlines for comment, but they didn’t immediately respond.
According to the report, the woman, who has not been identified, gave birth, according to the report to, to a son named Mehdi.
New Orleans-based Dr. Feridun Kaubilay was one of the passengers and made his journey to the front. Kubilay, who is a US resident and works in Turkey as a surgeon part-time, saidNola.comhe hadn’t delivered a baby in almost 40 years.
Turkish Airlines / Handout/Anadolu Agenc/ Getty Images
Kubilay was on the Turkish Airlines flight as he wanted to defer his return to the USA by one week. He told the outlet that the woman started complaining of abdominal pain — which he initially thought was food poisoning or appendicitis — before learning the woman was nine months pregnant.
“If I didn’t change my ticket, I don’t know what happens to that lady,”Kubilay spoke to Nola.com “Someone or something [larger] arranged for me to be on that airplane.”
Turkish Airlines / Handout/Anadolu Agenc/ Getty Images
Kubilay stated to the outlet that “she was screaming” “the entire airplane was scared.”
Turkish Airlines to Travel + Leisure. The woman gave birth quickly to her son and was accompanied by a medical team upon arrival in Chicago.
“I was so happy everything was OK,”Kubilay spoke to Nola.com. He said that the mother had wanted to name their child after him but settled on Mehdi. “rightly guided one.”