The Australian media called out the officials at Qatar airport for carrying out a rather shocking and absurd search hunt for the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned at the airport.
Female passengers present on the flight to Sydney from Doha airport were told to get down the flight for an internal exam termed as “invasive” and “humiliating” by the media houses.
They were subjected to a “stripping down” process to find the woman who had recently given birth to the baby found and fled leaving it.
13 of the passengers who went through the horror were Australians and the country’s government has called the incident “offensive” and “grossly inappropriate”.
The incident surfaced when Seven Network News reported in its telecast of October 25th that female passengers ready to fly at Hamad International Airport of Doha were brought out of the flight and made to go through an inspection without their permission. The apparent exam took place in an ambulance present on the runway.
According to the report, the females “had their genitals invasively examined, without their consent”. It also mentioned the uninformed nature of the act as no one was told about the infant prior to the “strip search”.
Accepting the occurrence of such an incident, the HIA issued a statement regarding it in the later hours of Sunday. It said on October 2nd, the newborn baby was found abandoned in the Qatar airport premises. Soon after, a search began for its mother as doctors showed their worry regarding the baby’s wellbeing. They also requested that the mother be identified before her departure.
“Individuals who had access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was found were asked to assist in the inquiry,” HIA said. However, it chose neither to mention the number of women who were subjected to the “inquiry” nor the ways it inquired.
However, it said the child was safe, but still unidentified. The statement further requested everyone to approach the authorities if they possessed details of the child’s mother.
The airways concerned, Qatar airways, did not speak about it.
Speaking about the incident to ABC News of Australia, one witness present on the flight, QR908, said most of the women who came back to the flight after the exam were noticeably disturbed.
“One of them was in tears, a younger woman, and people couldn’t believe what had happened,” Babeck told ABC.
“They told me they had to take their underwear off or their clothes from the bottom and then it was inspected whether they had given birth,” he added.
The inspection also delayed the flight by four hours.
Calling the incident as “unacceptable”, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia criticized the Qatar Airways.
“The advice that has been provided indicates that the treatment of the women concerned was offensive, grossly inappropriate, and beyond circumstances in which the women could give free and informed consent,” it said in a statement.
“The government has formally registered our serious concerns about this incident with Qatari authorities.”
