Gujarat: Woman gives birth surrounded by lions

Image courtesy: ANI

Junagadh, Gujarat: In a bizarre incident, a pregnant woman gave birth to a child surrounded by dozens of lions in Gir forest area in an ambulance after midnight. The pride surrounded the ambulance carrying a pregnant woman for delivery near Lunsapur village in Jafrabad taluka of Amreli, forcing the woman to deliver the baby in the vehicle itself. About three kilometers from the village, paramedics encountered a pride of lions on the road. By that time the woman, who was pregnant with her fourth child, went into labour and was in great pain. Since the ambulance was surrounded by the lions, it was decided that the baby will have to be delivered in the vehicle itself. "The staff stopped the ambulance and waited for lions to leave. But that did not happen," Amreli district head of the 108 emergency ambulance service Chetan Gadhia said. "The staff contacted our physician over phone and gave details of delivery. The delivery took about 25 minutes, and the entire time the lions were moving around the ambulance," Gadhia added. After waiting for some time, the driver decided to move away from that place and started driving slowly. The lions evacuated the road and soon the road was clear. This is not the first instance where the paramedics of the 108 emergency ambulance service had encountered lions while on call. The staff has been trained to deal with such situations as lions are frequently sighted in villages of Amreli.