DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A Filipina successfully gave birth to a healthy baby boy at 38,000 feet on board a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Dubai to Manila as cabin attendants assisted her with help by one of the pilots, who was receiving step-by-step procedures from a doctor through a satellite phone.
“It was a fateful day,” Second Officer Fidel Guzman Ala told The Daily Bread.
“It was one of, if not the most, stressful and yet fulfilling experiences in my life. As there were no doctors on board, I had to call one through radio satphone and very carefully relay all those medical terms to the cabin attendants delivering the baby,” he said on Facebook.
He said the experience “felt a tad terrifying.”
“One misinterpretation of the doctor’s instructions would spell out a person’s doom or destiny. I had to ask and re-ask the doctor on the line if I understood him correctly.
“I now recognize the efforts of those who went through medical school. Who would have thought that in my lifetime, I would have to relay the step-by-step procedure and instructions for cutting an umbilical cord? I had to draw a diagram and re-ask the doctor again and again just to be sure,” Ala further shared.
With him were flight Capt. Mark F. Palomares and First Officer Herky Vitug.
Fit to travel
Agnes Pagaduan, PAL country manager for the UAE, said the Filipina, whose name she did not disclose for privacy reasons and was 34 weeks pregnant, was given the all-clear, fit to travel approval by authorities when she boarded the chartered PR 659 flight that left Dubai at around 9pm on Friday, June 5 (UAE time), with expected time of arrival (ETA) in Manila at 10am Philippine time.
“May clearance naman sya… fit to travel. Okay naman sya nang mag-check-in. Baka na-excite lang. I got information na nanganak sya on board. Lalaki ang anak,” Pagaduan also told Rappler.
Ala said the boy was named Ali, which in Arabic meant “elevated,” “most high” or “exalted.”
“Such a wonderful name for one who is born flight levels above ground. Ali, I hope to meet you one day. God bless you. You are a miracle amid this world’s current misery. Fi Amanillah (I leave you in the custody of Allah)! All the best!” Ala said.
Pagaduan also said the flight’s crew attended to the Filipina. “Ang crew namin ang nagpa-anak. Well-trained naman sila,” Pagaduan said, adding that the airline has had several such incidents of expectant mothers giving birth while in flight.
Pagaduan said PAL flight PR 659 had 294 passengers of which 25 were pregnant ones. It would have been approximately an eight-hour Dubai-Manila flight but the plane had to be diverted to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport because of the medical emergency.
“Dinala sya sa pinakamalapit na ospital,” Pagaduan said.
The flight reportedly left Bangkok shortly after the woman and her child were disembarked, and arrived in Manila around midday.
She said PR 659’s passengers were mostly those returning to the Philippines for good in light of the employment situation in the UAE caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
“Karamihan sa mga sumakay ay talagang mga ‘for-good’ na… mga nawalan ng trabaho,” Pagaduan said.
She also disclosed that PAL has another chartered flight, Sunday July 7, with 355 passengers on board of which over 20 were expectant moms.
Thirty-four weeks of pregnancy is around two weeks short of nine months – the pregnancy period.
(Main picture was from Second Officer Fidel Guzman Ala’s Facebook as sent to Daily Bread)
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