In flooded Bihar, a baby was born on a rescue boat, with help from disaster force personnel
In the middle of rescue sorties for those marooned by floods in Bihar, a group of disaster force soldiers helped deliver a baby on a boat.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force or NDRF was at a flooded village in Vaishali district, around 65 km from Patna, when the soldiers heard the cries of a woman, Saroj Patel, in labour pain.
The soldiers googled the nearest hospital and set off with the woman on a boat but she gave birth to a baby boy on the way. He has been named 'Namami Gange', a reminder of his unusual birth in India's holiest river.
The hospital had been alerted, so a contingent of health staff was ready with an ambulance.
A similar birth was reported in Patna, where disaster personnel helped deliver a baby girl.
The NDRF says its force is being trained in emergency deliveries. In Ara district last year, the officer said, a family named a baby boy born on a boat during floods "NDRF Singh" out of gratitude.
Large parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are flooded because of heavy rain. Earlier this week, a woman in Uttar Pradesh gave birth to a baby on a rescue boat.