Baby born on New Year's Eve flight

A Ugandan woman had to forego the comforts of a hospital maternity unit on New Year's Eve when she gave birth to a baby on board an international flight from Amsterdam to Boston. The woman was eight months pregnant when she boarded the Northwest Airlines flight and was travelling with her young daughter and a friend. Some six hours into the journey, the woman went into heavy labour and cabin crew quickly located two doctors on the plane.

With the help of Dr Paresh Thakker, a GP, and Dr Natarajan Raman, a radiation oncologist from Minnesota, the baby was delivered safely.

The birth was greeted by cheers and applause from the other passengers on board the flight and baby Sasha was deemed a Canadian citizen for customs' purposes because she was born over Canada's airspace.

Dr Natarajan Raman, who helped deliver the child, told the Boston Globe: "Everybody was there to help.

"People offered baby food, people brought things, people vacated their seats... The spirit of America is alive."

The mother's identity and reason for flying so late into her pregnancy were not revealed, but she was taken to hospital as soon as the plane landed in Boston.

A spokesman for Massachusetts General Hospital said that both mother and baby are in a good condition.