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Some Air China stewardesses recently found themselves with an unusual task -- helping a woman to deliver a baby girl mid-flight from Beijing to Milan.

Around 4:00 p.m. on Feb. 9, Hu Lifen, a pregnant passenger from Fujian, told a stewardess that she experienced sudden pain though she was 11 days away from her due delivering date.

The stewardess found a doctor on the plane. Checking the woman with his stethoscope, the doctor said the woman had normal conditions and she was giving birth right soon.

The captain decided to land one and a half hours later in Moscow, which was approved by the Russians.

Hu was moved to the first-class section, with oxygen bottles, scissors and towels prepared for her.

At 5 p.m., Hu screamed with pain. The stewardesses, without any delivery experience, calmly prepared for antisepsis. As there was no ethanol on board, they used vodka.

The baby was born 16 minutes later, with her umbilical cord cut by an air hostess. She was named Hu Tianfeng, which means phoenix in the air, in commemoration of her birth on Air China's flight.

Other passengers were delighted to learn the baby was born sound and showed their understanding of the flight's delay.

Two doctors conducted a check-up at the Moscow airport and pronounced that both mother and daughter were fine, as well as praised the stewardesses.