Australian authorities are investigating a disturbing report that a group of female passengers was asked to get off a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney before it took off and were subjected to an invasive search after a newborn baby was found at the Hamad International Airport in Doha.
The group of women, which included 13 Australians, was forced to undergo medical examinations at the Hamad International Airport on October 2. They were also subjected to a strip search in an ambulance parked on the tarmac, Fox News reported.
Marise Ann Payne, the Australian Foreign Minister, condemned the offensive incident and tagged it as grossly disturbing. She also stated that it has since been reported to the federal police.
Payne shared during a press conference on Monday that what happened was a grossly disturbing, offensive, and concerning set of events.
She also added that it is not something that she has ever heard of occurring in her life, in any context.
The Australian Foreign Minister also added they have made their views very clear to the Qatari authorities regarding the matter as the Australian officials are currently waiting for any update from the Qatari government before taking and determining their next steps with regards to the incident.
The unidentified baby currently remains under the medical care of social workers based on some reports.
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According to Daily Mail, Dr. Wolfgang Babeck, who was among the 34 passengers that boarded flight 908, attested that the carrier's crew instructed all women who were on board to leave the plane before take-off.
The doctor added that the majority of the women were looking shocked when they returned to the plane and that most, if not all of them, were upset.
He also mentioned that one of them, a younger woman, was even in tears, while most of the people cannot believe what happened.
Some women even shared with the doctor that they had to take their underwear off or their bottom clothes as their private parts were checked to see if they had given birth.
The incident caused the flight to be delayed for about three hours.
The passenger alleged that the airline did not offer any explanation for the more than three hours of delay or even explained why the women were asked to leave the aircraft in the first place.
Babeck said that the examinations were conducted by a woman.
When asked for a comment regarding the incident, the spokesperson for Qatar Airways did not answer it right away.
According to a report, sex outside of marriage is a criminal act in the premise of Qatar and even in its neighboring countries in the Middle East.
Based on Qatar's history, female migrant workers have hidden their pregnancies and even tried to travel to foreign countries to give birth.
Others opt to abandon their babies to avoid imprisonment.
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