Migrant woman delivers in bus in India, twins fail to survive

A six-month pregnant migrant woman delivered twin daughters while the bus in which she was travelling, was passing through the Bareilly district.

Born prematurely on Sunday, the babies died within an hour of being born.

Doctors said that the woman has been quarantined and her swab samples would be sent for the corona tests.

The woman, Fatima Bi, 24, and her husband Mithun Miyan, 26, are natives of Cooch Behar district of West Bengal and used to work at a brick kiln in Hapur district.

After the brick kiln shut down during the lockdown, they applied online to return home with the assistance of the government but did not get any response.

Her husband said that he and his wife, along with 42 other people had collectively paid Rs 1.2 lakh for their journey on a private bus.

When Fatima's condition deteriorated, the couple was dropped off by the bus driver on National Highway 24 in the Bithri Chainpur area of Bareilly, from where a 108 ambulance took them to the district hospital.

The bus driver, however, refused to wait and left for the destination with other passengers.

Doctor Varsha Agarwal, who is treating Fatima at the district hospital, said, "The woman had already delivered twins on the bus and both of them had died when she reached here. Her condition is stable but she is upset. She was only six months pregnant. Her samples would be sent for Covid-19 tests as she was travelling from another district and may have been exposed to the infection."

Earlier, on Friday, another migrant woman, aged about 21 years, had delivered a pair of twin boys at Sirathu in Kaushambhi district in a Shramik Special train that was on its way to Varanasi from Vapi in Gujarat.

However, the newborn twins died hours later after they were born and rushed to a primary health centre for treatment.

The woman was identified as Gayatri Devi and was eight-months pregnant.

She was travelling along with her husband Bhaiyya Lal.

Gayatri gave birth to twin boys in the moving train sometime after the train crossed Bharwari in Kaushambhi with the help of other women passengers.

As soon as the authorities were informed, the train was made to stop at Sirathu railway station and the mother and the twins were rushed to the primary health centre in an ambulance.

Chief medical superintendent of Kaushambhi district hospital Deepak Seth said that the babies were born premature and could not survive.

Gayatri has been admitted to the isolation ward of the district hospital.

Indo-Asian News Service