A woman from Afghanistan gave birth to a baby in an American evacuation machine. Her labor began on the way to the US base in Ramstein in Germany, as the US Air Force transport command announced on Sunday. Because she had complaints, the pilot of the C-17 transport plane lowered the flight altitude, which increased the air pressure in the cabin. The maneuver helped save her life.
After landing in Ramstein, Palatinate, the woman gave birth to a girl in the hold of the machine with the help of soldiers. Mother and child are doing well, they said.
Accommodation in the hangar
The Air Base in Ramstein is the world’s largest air force base in the United States outside of home. By Saturday evening, 2300 evacuees from Afghanistan had been brought there with 17 planes. Further flights are also expected to arrive on Sunday and the following days.
The former US local staff in Afghanistan and their families, who are leaving their homeland for fear of the Islamist Taliban, are initially accommodated in aircraft hangars at the air base. From there they are to be flown to the USA. (gf)