All of the female passengers, 13 Australians on board of a Qatar Airways flight to Australia were removed from the plane and forced to undergo vaginal exams after abandoned newborn was found in a toilet at the Hamad International airport, Doha, according to BBC.
The incident happened on Oct 2, where the female passengers were dragged off from flight QR908. They were not informed what was going on and were taken to an ambulance on the tarmac and told to remove their underwear for an “invasive” exams.
“No one spoke English or told us what was happening. It was terrifying,” one of the women, who asked to remain anonymous, told the ABC News.
“When I got in there, and there was a lady with a mask on and then the authorities closed the ambulance behind me and locked it,” she said.
“They never explained anything. She told me to pull my pants down and that I needed to examine my vagina,” the woman told ABC. “I said, ‘I’m not doing that’ and she did not explain anything to me. She just kept saying, ‘We need to see it, we need to see it.’”
The woman said she took her clothes off and was touched by the female nurse who inspected her.
Foreign Minister of Australia Marise Payne said the “grossly disturbing, offensive, concerning set of events” had been referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and they are expecting a report on the incident from the Qatari Government this week.
According to statement from Hamad International Airport, the infant was “safe” and being cared for in Qatar — and that medical professionals “expressed concern to officials about the health and welfare of a mother who had just given birth and requested she be located prior to departing.”