Tourist gives birth on holiday bus

A French tourist who said she did not know she was pregnant gave birth on a tour bus while on holiday in Florida.

Sophie Proust, who lives near Paris, gave birth to a 5lb 9oz baby girl named Karen in the toilet of the bus.

Sophie was on the fourth day of her holiday, and had just been to Disney World.

The 28-year-old said: "I didn't know I was pregnant. I had stomach pains and thought I had to go to the rest room. When we were in the bus on the day she was born, she was smiling, smiling, smiling. I feel good."

The pains began as Sophie and her brother, Florian, boarded the tour bus for a trip to Tampa, the Everglades and Key West.

When the bus stopped at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in southwest Florida to let passengers take photographs, Sophie said she realised that she was giving birth and called the bus driver for help.

A staff member at a local emergency communications centre relayed instructions to a passenger at a pay phone on the bridge, who passed the information to another passenger who told the bus driver what to do.

By the time an ambulance arrived, the baby was already born.

Dr Chandra Williams, who treated Sophie when she was taken to a local hospital, said she told her she had not skipped her menstrual cycle and did not know she was pregnant.

Dr Williams said the baby appears to be doing well.