MUMBAI: An Indonesian woman gave birth on an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta that had to be diverted to Mumbai Wednesday, Indian officials said.
Flight EY 474 left the emirate for Indonesia’s capital in the early hours of Wednesday but was diverted to India’s commercial hub after the woman went into labor, a Mumbai airport spokesperson told AFP.
“The passenger delivered a female child about 40 minutes before landing” in Mumbai, the spokesperson said.
The woman, described by the spokesperson as being of Indonesian origin, was taken to a nearby hospital and the flight departed Mumbai around 09:40 a.m. (0410 GMT) to complete its journey to Jakarta.
Last year an Indian women gave birth on a Jet Airways flight from Damman in Saudi Arabia to Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala. The flight was also diverted to Mumbai.
Jet Airways said it was the first time a baby had been born on one of its flights and that it had given the boy free travel for life on the airline.
Indonesian woman gives birth on Etihad flight
Indonesian woman gives birth on Etihad flight
- Flight EY 474 left the emirate for Indonesia’s capital in the early hours of Wednesday
- It was diverted to India’s commercial hub after the woman went into labor
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
