This is a case that risks making noise.
Passengers forcibly underwent extensive body examinations after the discovery of a premature newborn abandoned in the toilets of the airport in the Qatari capital, Doha, according to press reports confirmed by AFP on Sunday.
The women were disembarked from their planes, including a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney, and taken to ambulances where they underwent unwanted gynecological examinations to find out if they had recently given birth.
"Officials were forcing women to undergo body exams, mostly forced Pap smears," a source in Doha told AFP on Sunday who was informed of an internal investigation into the incident.
The facts, reported by Australian television Seven News, occurred on October 2 and were revealed by Australian passengers.
13 Australians according to the antipodes media, were taken off the flights, detained and forced to undergo an inspection in an ambulance on the tarmac.
The Qatari authorities then forced the women to take off their underwear.
Also according to Seven news the 13 Australian women would have undergone an invasive genital examination, without their consent.
In addition, no one was informed of the death of the newborn, which would have generated this “hunt for the woman”.
Other women victims of this force examination
The baby was dead when it was discovered, Seven News reported, information that was not confirmed by sources in Doha.
Due to the incident, one of the flights, Qatar Airways' QR908 to Sydney was four hours late, according to monitoring site Flight Radar 24.
Women from other nations and other flights have undergone similar examinations, but the extent of the incident is not yet known.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Seven News that it had "officially communicated to the authorities" in Qatar its "serious concerns about the incident".
He added that he had "received assurances that detailed and transparent information on the event will soon be provided" by Qatar.
An investigation is underway in Qatar, according to Seven News.
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Asked by AFP this Sunday, the company Qatar Airways did not comment.