An Indian woman gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of an international passenger plane and tried to dispose of it down the toilet, according to media reports in New Delhi.

The infant was found stuck in the toilet after the plane landed in Amritsar, northern India, and was rushed to hospital still attached to the toilet bowl, police and doctors told the Press Trust of India news agency.

H.P. Singh, a doctor at the Escorts Hospital near the airport, said that a team of surgeons used a saw cutter to clear the newborn's head from the toilet.

The 22-year-old mother was reported to have left the plane when it landed, and was later arrested in the airport after the cabin crew on the Turkmenistan Airlines flight found her baby.

Doctors at the hospital said the infant was in a critical condition.

Newspapers reported the mother was an unmarried medical student returning home after completing a degree abroad.

The origin of the flight was unclear, though the Indian Express said it had taken off from the city of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.

AFP