Woman gives birth on running train

A woman gave birth to a baby boy on a local train on early Monday.

The woman Nabia Begum, 34, had her labour pain while she was travelling to Lalmonirhat on Lalmoni Express from Dhaka.

Nabia delivered the baby when the train was running and there was no railway station nearby, said Chhokmal Mia, Nabia’s husband.

The pain began just after the train started running from Airport Station in the capital around 11:00pm, he said.

Around 2:00am, with her pain soaring high she fell on the floor of the compartment, he said adding that, after half an hour, the child was delivered with the help of other passengers.

Around 7:15am, she was still bleeding and the passengers helped the couple to get off the train at Bogura railway station, Nabia told Prothom Alo. A man at the station came to know about the incident and called 999.

Later, a team of Bogura Fire Service and Civil Defence led by station officer Akramul Hassan, rescued the mother and the newborn and got them admitted at the hospital.

Nabia Begum and Chhokmal Mia live at village Tetulia of Kaliganj upazila in Lalmonirhat. "I wanted to go to my parents' house as I didn't feel well for last few days," said Nabia who is undergoing treatment.

"We've named the boy Ibrahim Hossain," she said.

Chhokmal Mia is a landless day labourer who works in Dhaka with a daily income of Tk 200 to 300. Nabia is a garments factory worker, but could not attend her job after she conceived. They have three more sons.

“I couldn't take my wife to any physician for financial crisis,” Chhokmal said adding they did not even know the possible time of the delivery.

Both the mother and the child are safe, said Abdul Wadud, assistant director of the hospital.