Woman gives birth on New Jersey PATH train
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Image: PANYNJ.
A New Jersey woman, 31-year-old Rabita Sarker, gave birth on a moving Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train yesterday morning. She and her husband Aditya Saurabh were heading to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan for a "practice run". She gave birth between the Journal Square and 33rd Street stations at 9:49 am ET (1449 UTC).
Sarker boarded the Manhattan-bound PATH train at Journal Square already experiencing labor pains. At first she believed these were false, but soon realized she was in fact giving birth. A St. Luke's-Roosevelt physician who was also traveling on the train came to her aid. Once train conductors heard that she was in labor, they switched the train to express service and bypassed stops to go directly to 33rd Street.
Paramedics and three Port Authority police officers were waiting on the platform of the 33rd Street station. "As the train came into the station, the woman had already given birth", Sgt. Mike Barry of the Port Authority police said. Sarker along with her child were then taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt where they were in stable condition.
The couple has not yet announced a name for their boy but they have nicknamed him "Jhatpat", which translates from Hindi as "Fast".
Sources
- Mikaela Conley. "Baby Born on New Jersey PATH Train" — ABC News, January 16, 2012
- Jennifer Cunningham and Bill Hutchinson. "N.J. mom Rabita Sarker gives birth on PATH train while heading to hospital on ‘practice run’" — Daily News (New York), January 16, 2012
