NEW DELHI, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A 32-year-old woman has become the latest sensation in India after reportedly giving birth to a baby boy in an ambulance surrounded by a dozen lions in a forest in the western state of Gujarat.
The incident took place in the early hours of Friday when the woman, identified as Manguben Makwana, suddenly went into labor and was being rushed to a hospital in the ambulance from her native Lunasapur village to a government hospital in nearby Jafarabad town.
As the ambulance was passing through a remote village in the vicinity of the Gir forest in Amreli district, the woman's situation worsened and taking no chances, the ambulance emergency staff stopped the vehicle and decided to help the woman deliver right there, reports said.
But as she gave birth to the baby, a group of 12 lions emerged from the adjacent forests and surrounded the vehicle, in an ordeal that lasted for nearly half an hour.
"Later, the driver switched on the ignition and started moving slowly. Upon seeing the movement of the vehicle as well as the blinking of lights, the lions eventually moved and gave way to the ambulance," an ambulance emergency staff, Chetan Gaadhe, was quoted as saying.
The mother and the child are both safe and being currently treated in the Jafrabad hospital.
