25-Year-Old Woman Delivers Baby Girl On NDRF Rescue Boat In Flood-Hit Bihar

Patna: Rima Devi (25) delivered a baby girl on board a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescue boat, plying on the swollen Burhi Gandak river in Bihar’s flood-affected East Champaran district on Sunday.

The rescuers from the 9th battalion of NDRF were attending to a drowning incident in the vicinity, when they were informed about the pregnant woman, an NDRF spokesperson said.

Having been rescued from her marooned house in Gobari village of East Champaran, she developed severe labour pain and later delivered the baby around 1.40 pm, NDTV reported.

The NDRF team was accompanied by an ASHA (accredited social health activist) worker, who helped in the childbirth.

NDRF Director General Satya Pradhan took to Twitter to inform that the mother and daughter were in stable condition.

NDRF personnel are trained in medical first-responder course and all rescuers are taught handling of childbirth during an emergency.

“This is the 10th childbirth (including a case of twins) on an NDRF boat while evacuating expecting mothers from flood-hit areas since 2013,” a spokesperson said.

Currently, 21 NDRF teams have been deployed in a dozen districts of Bihar for conducting flood rescue and relief work.