Bundle of joy: (From left) Immigration officers Nur Damiea, Nur Marlina and Noor Rafiah Ibrahim posing with the newborn boy.
PETALING JAYA: Immigration officers are used to all kinds of arrivals at the KL International Airport but no one expected this – the arrival of a newborn baby after a Turkish woman suddenly went into labour and gave birth to a boy upon landing.
Immigration officer Nur Marlina Daraman, 35, was on duty at the arrival gate on the third floor of the airport on Friday when the pregnant woman barged into her office at about 12.15pm.
The woman, in her 30s, was dripping wet, shivering violently and writhing in pain. Carrying a year-old toddler in one arm, she was pulling her luggage with the other.
“She uttered some words to me but I didn’t understand the foreign language,” said Nur Marlina. “But she really didn’t need to say anything as I knew from the look on her face that she was going into labour.”
While her colleague Nur Damiea Lawrence Abdullah phoned for a doctor, Nur Marlina led the woman into an office and laid her down on a piece of cloth on the floor.
As she helped the woman undress, Nur Marlina said she could already see the baby’s head.
“I was scared. I was not trained in handling these kinds of situations,” she said. “I have never even seen a delivery before. But she was already there on the floor so I had to do something.
“All I could do was reassure her while we waited for the doctor. The other officers helped comfort her too,” Nur Marlina recalled.
A doctor and midwife arrived and the Immigration officers assisted with the equipment during the delivery.
“The woman gave birth to a healthy baby at 12.30pm,” said Nur Marlina.
KLIA Immigration deputy director Sarbini Hussein said the woman was taken to the Putrajaya Hospital for further treatment, along with her newborn baby and toddler.
“We didn’t get to speak to the woman after that. She fell asleep after giving birth,” said Sarbini. “We felt happy for her.”
According to her passport, the woman came in from Johor Baru. The department, however, is withholding her name for privacy reasons.
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