Woman gives birth in plane toilet

A passenger plane flying from France to the Indian Ocean island of Reunion landed with an extra person on board after a woman gave birth in the toilet.

Officials with the airline, Air Austral, say a doctor on board helped to deliver the baby, named Elfayed.

Mother and child were admitted to hospital and are said to be doing well.

Airline officials said they did not usually allow women on flights beyond the seventh month of pregnancy, but the woman had not been visibly pregnant.

Mid-flight

After landing in Reunion, pilot Jean-Christophe Durieux told the AFP agency: "I didn't believe it and so I got up to go see and the baby was already out."

The flight had been in the air more than five hours after taking off from the eastern French city of Lyon on Saturday when a steward noticed a passenger had been in a toilet for a long time.

The 25-year-old woman, who had planned to give birth in her home on the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, turned out to be in labour.

A stewardess wrapped the baby in a blanket and the doctor on board cut the umbilical cord.