Newborn baby found abandoned in plane bathroom after alleged in-flight birth

A newborn baby was found abandoned in the bathroom of an Air Mauritius plane after a woman allegedly gave birth mid-flight and dumped the boy in the bin.

Authorities at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport found the newborn during a routine customs check, according to the BBC.

A 20-year-old woman has been arrested, the outlet said.

The woman initially denied she was the mother of the baby, who was discovered when the New Year’s Day flight landed in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis after a flight from Madagascar.

But the unidentified Madagascar mom was ordered to undergo a medical exam, which confirmed that she had just delivered a baby, the BBC reported.

The woman, who arrived in Mauritius on a two-year work permit, has been placed under police surveillance at a local hospital, where she and her son were reportedly doing well.

She is expected to be charged with abandoning her newborn once released from the hospital, the outlet said.

Reports about abandoned newborns on planes are rare, but a similar incident happened in October 2020, when all of the female passengers aboard a Qatar Airways flight to Australia were forced to undergo vaginal exams after a baby was found in a toilet at the airport in the capital of Doha.

The incident at Hamad Airport sparked widespread outrage after the women described their ordeal as state-sanctioned assault.

The country later apologized over the searches, vowed to guarantee the future “safety and security” of passengers and one airport police officer was handed a suspended jail sentence.