21 March,2009 09:11 AM IST | | Agencies
A woman who secretly gave birth on a flight from Samoa to New Zealand may face criminal charges after her baby was found alive in the plane's bathroom.
Police are inquiring into "the alleged... abandonment of the child by the mother" after the flight landed in New Zealand on Thursday, police communications manager Ana-Mari Gates-Bowey said. "A likelihood of this investigation is a criminal prosecution."
The mother left the baby in a bathroom waste bin on the Pacific Blue plane carrying 150 passengers; others said she was spotted with bloodied clothes in an immigration line.
Gates-Bowey said the woman had undergone surgery at an Auckland hospital and was later reunited with her baby. Its gender has not been disclosed.
The 30-year-old woman isu00a0 believed to be a Samoan national.
