14-Year Old Girl Delivers Stillborn Baby On Flight

Filed in archive Aviation News on March 31, 2008

On Monday, a 14-year old girl delivered a stillborn fetus in the bathroom of an airplane. The stillborn baby was discovered by the cleaning crew of the airplane shortly after the it landed at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. According to an article on MSNBC, the unidentified girl did not know she was pregnant.

"We're dealing with a scared child at this point," investigator Keith Lovelace said.

Police were called to Bush Intercontinental Airport after a cleaning crew found the fetus in a wastebasket in the bathroom about 15 minutes after the Continental Airlines plane landed Sunday afternoon.

The Boeing 737 had come from New York's laguardia airport. The plane, which was about 30 minutes late, carried 144 passengers and six crew members.

Police Sgt. Ryan Chandler said results of the investigation would be turned over to prosecutors "to decide whether or not they're going to file any criminal charges."

Houston police are involved because the fetus was discovered within the city limits. A report from the medical examiner's office was not expected before Tuesday.

Julie King, a spokeswoman for Houston-based Continental Airlines, declined to comment Monday.