ATLANTA – A Delta Air Lines flight from Munich had to make an emergency stopover in North Carolina after one of its passengers went into premature labor. Two passengers who are doctors delivered the baby girl, airline and hospital officials said.
Delta Flight 131 to Atlanta was near Washington when a German-speaking woman about 32 to 36 weeks pregnant, whom the airline did not identify, went into labor Wednesday afternoon, prompting an emergency stop in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Two doctors who were on board the 192-passenger plane delivered the baby girl successfully.
"It was a heroic effort by our flight attendant crew and our customers on board who were fortunately doctors," said Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton. They were Dr. Robert Vincent, a pediatric cardiologist with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and an adult cardiologist from Savannah, Ga. The Savannah Morning News identified him as Dr. Dieter K. Gunkel.
Vincent used medical equipment on the plane to resuscitate the child, who had turned blue with no heart rate. The baby later was listed in good condition at a neonatal intensive care unit in Charlotte, said Jason Rollins, spokesman for the Atlanta-based pediatric hospital.
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