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Source: ONE News -
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A police investigation is underway after a newborn baby was found in the bathroom of a Pacific Blue flight from Samoa.
The 30-year-old Samoan woman and her baby are now in Middlemore Hospital, after she allegedly abandoned her infant shortly after the birth during the flight.
It appears none of the 150 passengers on the flight, or the plane's crew, were aware the woman had given birth.
However, authorities were made aware something was wrong after the woman approached them saying she had misplaced her passport. They noticed she was pale and was blood stained.
ONE News understands the baby was discovered by cleaners and sources say the woman gave birth in the toilet, and then abandoned her newborn in the rubbish bin.
Travellers who were on the flight are staggered it took authorities so long to notice what had happened.
"I'm pretty sure someone must have noticed it, if not the people sitting next to her... it's a three hour flight," says one passenger.
Pacific Blue say that heavily pregnant women need clearance to fly and that ground staff are trained to question women about how pregnant they are.
But they could not say if it asked those questions of the woman in this case.
Nor could they tell ONE News if flight attendants on board saw or heard anything during the overnight flight.
Child, Youth and Family Services have been called in and are involved in determining the future of the baby.
A CYFS spokeswoman says they were contacted by Middlemore Hospital.
She says their next step is to determine what is best for the baby, and are working closely with medical professionals, police and the mother.
