Ugandan Mom's Baby Born on US-bound Flight Granted Canadian Citizenship

A Northwest Airlines flight
An eight-month pregnant Ugandan mom aboard Northwest Airlines' Flight 59 unexpectedly went to labor when en route from Amsterdam to Boston at New Year's Eve. Under two doctor's help, the mom delivered a healthy baby girl weighed 6 pounds. The toddler now named Sasha was granted a Canadian citizenship because she was born over Canada's airspace.

A Ugandan woman has given birth to a baby girl on board an international flight from Amsterdam to Boston after going into labour mid-flight.

The six-pound (2.7kg) baby named Sasha was delivered on New Year's Eve with the help of two doctors on the eight-hour-long Northwest Airlines flight.

Mother and baby were taken to a Boston hospital on landing and are doing well.

Sasha was deemed a Canadian citizen for customs' purposes because she was born over Canada's airspace.

The rare trans-Atlantic birth was greeted with cheers and applause from passengers on board flight 59, reports said.

The excitement began some six hours into the flight, when the Ugandan woman who was eight-months pregnant went into heavy labour.

Flight crew located two doctors on board the plane, and the woman gave birth to Sasha at 0900 Boston time (1400 GMT) - some 90 minutes before touch down. [BBC]

Sasha also made a history--she is the first baby ever born on an international flight.