Baby dies after in-flight birth

A New Zealand woman on a flight from Brisbane to Auckland lost her baby today after giving birth prematurely while the plane was still in the air.

The Air New Zealand plane was approaching Auckland International Airport when the woman went into labour and gave birth soon afterwards, TV3 News reported tonight.

Nurses on the flight tended to the woman and used shoe laces to tie off the umbilical cord but were not able to save the life of the baby, which died before the plane was on the ground.

Paramedics met the plane and took the woman to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

The baby was understood to have been six weeks premature and the mother was 34 weeks pregnant - within Air New Zealand's guidelines for flying when pregnant.

- NZPA