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US soldiers escort mother and child from the plane in Ramstein
Photo: - / AFP
An Afghan woman gave birth to a baby shortly after fleeing Kabul - while she was still on board a US evacuation plane.
Her contractions and additional health complaints started on the way to the US base Ramstein in Germany, as the US Air Force transport command announced on Sunday.
Her condition improved when the C-17 transport plane flew lower and the air pressure in the plane increased as a result.
The maneuver helped save her life, writes the transport command on Twitter.
After landing in Ramstein, the woman gave birth to a girl in the hold of the machine with the help of soldiers.
Mother and child are doing well.
Both were housed in the hangar of the Ramstein base.
Ramstein turnstile
The woman had fled Kabul heavily pregnant and first landed on a transport plane at a US base in the Middle East before continuing to Ramstein. Ramstein Air Base is the world's largest U.S. air force base outside of home. The United States is currently using Ramstein as a hub to relieve the smaller, already overcrowded air force base in Qatar.
The former US local staff in Afghanistan and their families, who are leaving their homes for fear of the militant Islamist Taliban, are housed in aircraft hangars at Ramstein Air Base.
From there they are to be flown to the USA.
According to a spokesman, there are no plans for the Afghans to leave the military premises for the time being.
The district of Kaiserslautern has kindly offered help, but initially the air base itself still has enough space and capacity.
By Saturday evening, 2300 evacuees from Afghanistan had been brought there with 17 planes.
Further flights are expected to arrive on Sunday and the following days.
mrc / dpa