Woman gives birth to baby on board train in Ramban

A 21-year-old woman gave birth to a baby boy on board a train near Banihal in Ramban district on Wednesday, officials said.

Akhtera Bano, a native of Sumber village, had boarded the Sangaldan-Baramulla train with her husband Mohd Ashraf to go to a government maternity hospital in Sherbagh in Anantnag district, they said.

However, she went into labour while still on the train. A midwife, a fellow traveller, helped Akhtera in delivering her first baby.

Railway Station Superintendent Abdul Baseer Bali said the railway staff and the protection force gave all possible help to the woman.

On reaching Banihal station, Akhtera was carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance arranged by a local NGO and taken to the Banihal sub-district hospital, he said.

A doctor at the hospital said both the woman and her child were healthy and were admitted for observation.

Ashraf said he was grateful to all the people, including railways, for their help.