Swedish baby survives car crash seconds after birth Published duration 5 August 2013

media caption Baby Raheema survived the crash moments after her birth, as Claire Brennan reports

A Swedish baby girl has survived a car crash, seconds after her mother gave birth to her en route to hospital.

Her father, Mokhles Raheema, was rushing his wife, then in labour, and their two elder children to a hospital in the eastern city of Gavle.

Mr Raheema told Swedish TV he took his eyes off the road to watch his wife give birth, only for the car to veer into a ditch and roll over four times.

The baby is in a stable condition, and the rest of the family were unharmed.

"She told me, 'she's coming out, she's coming out!'" Mr Raheema said, describing the incident on Swedish television.

"I saw my daughter come out and fall headfirst onto the floor" of the car, he added.

Distracted by the early delivery of his daughter, he accidentally drove the car off the road into a ditch.

When the car came to a stop, he saw his wife in the passenger seat and two children in the back conscious. But the baby girl had disappeared from sight.

He finally found her under the passenger seat.

"I fetched her and held her against me. She was crying," Mr Raheema said.

The mother, Samaher Mezban, said she was "hurt all over".

A passing motorist reportedly alerted emergency services who took the family to hospital.