Sick infant causes passenger flight to be diverted midway
Doctors from Shanghai Ruijin and Renhe hospitals offer first-aid treatment to a 2-month-old baby on a China Eastern Airlines flight.
A passenger flight from Shanghai to southwest China was diverted to land midway to its destination on Thursday when a 2-month-old infant became ill and short of breath.
China Eastern Airlines' Flight MU5804 from Hongqiao International Airport to Kunming in southwest Yunnan Province made a diverted landing in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, at 2:45pm after the emergency was realized.
Flight attendant Li Xuemei found the boy was vomiting, showing the whites of his eyes and getting short of breath in the arms of a passenger at 1:50pm, about half an hour after the aircraft took off. The mother of the boy said the child had previously suffered from hypoglycemia and was diagnosed with congenital hyperinsulinemia.
The captain then asked for help from the 120 passengers onboard. Four doctors from Shanghai Ruijin and Renhe hospitals immediately answered the call and checked the condition of the infant. The flight attendants provided a medical kit and oxygen bottle.
After the treatment, the boy's pupils turned normal, but his heart rate reached 110 per minute and he kept vomiting. The doctors suggested making an emergency landing so the boy could get additional treatment.
The crew agreed and decided to land at the nearest airport, Changsha Huanghua International Airport. The aircraft landed less than an hour after the infant showed symptoms in flight, the airline said.
An ambulance took the boy to a nearby hospital where he has been in a stable condition.
"Thanks for the help of the four doctors, who offered the most timely and efficient rescue," the chief flight attendant said. The doctors are members of the Shanghai medical team assisting Yunnan. They took the flight back to Yunnan after spending the Spring Festival in Shanghai.
Other passengers have also offered support and understanding. Some kept comforting the parents and tried to help, the flight attendant recalled.
The crew members thanked every passenger after the flight finally landed at Kunming airport, she added.
