Coastguard helicopter crew become midwives at 1,000ft

The woman was airlifted from Unst, Britain’s most northerly isle, and were on their way to the nearest maternity ward in Shetland when the Coastguard air crew realised they would have to play midwives themselves.

The 7lb baby was delivered by winchman paramedic Marcus Wigfull at around 6.30am this morning, 10 minutes before landing at Lerwick hospital where the child and mother are said to be doing well.

Mr Wigfull said he visited maternity wards during his paramedic training but that this was his first delivery on a helicopter.

“To be honest, I wasn’t nervous. It all happened so quickly and my training just kicked in. It all went very smoothly.

“We knew we had about a 15 to 20-minute transfer time to the hospital but within five minutes of bringing the mother on board we realised we weren’t going to make it to the hospital.”

The 40-year-old said of the woman: “She did everything she was asked to do and the father was very supportive.”

The Coastguard received a call from the mother’s doctor at 4.30am, asking about ferry times from Unst as she was in labour.

They decided instead to launch the helicopter which landed 90 minutes later and took the woman and her partner on board.

The baby was delivered at 6.28am at 1,000ft above a small island called Lunna Holm.

Alex Dodge, watch manager at Shetland Coastguard, said: “We would like to congratulate the mother and father on the birth of their son, who is reported to be doing well.”