RIYADH: An Indonesian maid traveling from Dammam to Colombo gave birth midair and the flight was diverted to Mumbai yesterday morning to provide urgent medical care to the mother.

Giman-Sellamat Mursanidt, 33, was on SriLankan Airlines’ flight UL264 bound to Colombo from Dammam when she developed labor pains on board and gave birth to a boy.

The maid was flying home to Jakarta via Colombo and she was to transit in Colombo airport for two hours and take a Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Singapore and then to Jakarta by Garuda Airlines.

Confirming the childbirth on board, Prataph Balakrishnan, SriLankan Airlines’ sales manager for the Eastern Province, said the woman had given birth after three hours of take-off from Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport. The cabin crew assisted in the delivery in the early hours of yesterday.

Following the delivery, the captain declared a medical emergency and diverted the flight to Mumbai. SriLankan Airlines’ ground staff and the authorities at Mumbai airport were alerted.

On board, the passenger experienced some discomfort and entered the toilet about two hours into the flight. Noticing that the passenger was in the toilet for a long period, a steward checked on her and discovered the situation. Balakrishnan said the purser immediately assigned four crewmembers to take charge.

The captain contacted the airline’s doctors in Colombo. As the mother appeared to be experiencing some complications, doctors advised that the aircraft be diverted to the nearest airport, since the flight still had two and a half hours of flying to Colombo.

Currently, the mother and baby are warded at a hospital in Mumbai and airline officials are in contact with the Indonesian mission in Mumbai to get consular assistance for the maid to include the baby’s name in her passport.

According to reports, the baby is in perfect health.

On getting the clearance both from the hospital and the respective mission, the airline will ferry her to Colombo and then to Jakarta.

The doctors have told the airline that the mother needed a few days’ rest to become fit for air travel. However, the airline has made a tentative arrangement for the maid to leave Mumbai on Saturday depending on medical advice.

The maid’s sponsor who made the reservation for the flight did not inform the airline of her pregnancy.