Baby dies aboard Philippines-South Korea flight after premature birth

Authorities are investigating the death of the premature infant, born to a Filipino mother aboard a Jeju Air flight

A baby boy born prematurely aboard a Jeju Air flight from the Philippines to Incheon, South Korea, has died, according to airport police.

Emergency responders received a report early Sunday morning that an infant delivered mid-flight was not breathing, The Korea Herald newspaper reported. By the time medical personnel arrived, the newborn had no pulse and was pronounced dead after being transported to a nearby hospital.

The mother, a Filipino woman in her thirties, was travelling from Clark with her husband, mother-in-law and daughter on the flight, which landed at the country’s main airport at around 6.20am.

She was in her 23rd to 25th week of pregnancy, Yonhap News reported. Under airline regulations, women before their 32nd week of pregnancy face no flight restrictions.

The airport police are investigating the incident as, under international law, a nation retains legal authority – known as flag state jurisdiction – over its flagged vessels, including aircraft.

“As the baby was born and died on a Korean-flagged aircraft, Korean authorities will handle the investigation,” a police official said, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily. “We will thoroughly examine the circumstances of the birth and what led to the child’s death.”

A Jeju Air official said the Filipino woman “did not inform the airline that she was pregnant”.

“So it was difficult to prepare for an emergency situation in advance … We did our best to respond to the in-flight birth situation.”

Baby on board

Births on aeroplanes are rare but not unheard of. According to a 2020 study by the International Society of Travel Medicine, 74 infants were born on commercial flights between 1929 and 2018 – with 71 surviving.

The standard procedure for mid-flight births is for the plane to be diverted to the nearest airport, as was the case with a Ryanair flight from the Belgian capital of Brussels to Castellon, Spain, on May 8.

Shortly after take-off for a scheduled two-hour flight, a Spanish woman went into labour and the captain diverted the plane to Limoges Airport in France, according to Business Insider news website. Emergency services were waiting but by the time the plane landed, the baby girl had already been safely born.

The mother was in her 37th week of pregnancy and it was not known why she was allowed to board. Ryanair requires a “fit to fly” medical letter once a pregnancy reaches its 28th week, and does not permit passengers beyond the end of the 36th week, according to UK newspaper The Independent.

Another baby girl was born just three months earlier, on Valentine’s Day, on board a Brussels Airlines flight from Dakar, Senegal, to Brussels.

As with the Ryanair flight, the plane had just taken off when the mother started experiencing severe pain, according to The Brussels Times. The pilots were informed and turned the plane back to Dakar.

However, the baby girl – named Fanta – could not wait and was born mid-flight. “The first moments were tense – was she OK? Was she breathing? And then, the most beautiful sound filled the cabin: her first cry,” Brussels Airlines wrote on social media.