A woman who did not realise she was pregnant suddenly had stomach pains while flying to Madrid and was amazed when she gave birth to a baby in the plane lavatory.

The young woman, from Ecuador, who did not have any idea that she was pregnant, was flying on a Dutch KLM airlines flight to Madrid with a stopover at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

She said that they were still a few hours from landing in the Dutch city on the flight from Guyaquil Ecuador when she started to feel uncomfortable and ended up with stomach cramps prompting the trip to the toilets.

The woman, identified only by the first name Tamara, had contractions in the toilet before she then suddenly found that she had her son in her hand.

The Spaarne Gasthuis Haarlem South hospital, where she was taken after the flight landed, said in a statement: “A few hours before landing in the Netherlands, her stomach hurt and she decided to go to the toilet. To her great surprise, after two contractions, she suddenly had a baby in her hands.”

Fortunately, there were two doctors and a nurse on board the flight who were able to assist the young woman after the delivery.

Tamara was so grateful for the help, she even named the child after one of them, Maximiliano, although the full names of the three medical professionals, reportedly from Austria, were not revealed.

When the young woman landed at the airport, mum and baby were taken by ambulance to the hospital where both are said to be doing well, an airline spokesperson said.

The hospital posted a photograph of the young woman with the child, although they later took the image offline.

The next stage is to get the paperwork done for the unexpected arrival so that the mother and baby can continue their journey.