Pregnant Woman Rescued From Mariupol Hospital Bombing Dies

A pregnant woman and her baby have died shortly after the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth was targeted by Russians.

The woman, who has not been named, was pictured last week with her hand on her stomach as she was carried on a stretcher away from the rubble of the hospital after an airstrike hit the site in Mariupol, Ukraine on Wednesday, March 9.

City officials initially said three people died in the attack, while 17 people, including children, women and doctors, were injured.

Destroyed Mariupol buildings (Alamy)

The number rose as the Associated Press confirmed the woman and her baby passed away after she was taken to another hospital closer to the frontline.

Doctors worked tirelessly to keep her alive, with surgeon Timur Marin discovering that the woman's pelvis had been crushed and her hip had detached in the attack. Medics delivered the baby via cesarean section, but the child sadly showed 'no signs of life', the surgeon said.

When she realised she was losing her baby, the woman reportedly cried out, 'Kill me now!'.

After the baby was confirmed to have passed away, doctors turned their attention to the mother. In a statement on Saturday, March 12, Marin said that 'more than 30 minutes of resuscitation of the mother didn’t produce results.'

'Both died', he confirmed.

The woman was pictured being rescued from the rubble (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/Shutterstock)

Medics were unable to get the woman's name before her husband and father came to take away her body, though they expressed relief that someone came to retrieve her so she didn't end up being taken to the mass graves that many of Mariupol's deceased people are being buried in.

Russia has been accused of a war crime for its bombing of the hospital, though officials have claimed the site had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists using it as a base, and that no patients or medics were inside at the time. When it came to the matter of the images taken from the scene, Russia’s ambassador to the UN and the Russian Embassy in London alleged the images were 'fake news.'

Ukrainian supporters (Alamy)

Blogger Mariana Vishegirskaya was at the scene during the bombing and gave birth to baby girl the day after the airstrike.

Speaking to Associated Press, she described how patients were 'laying in wards when glasses, frames, windows and walls flew apart.'

'We don’t know how it happened,' she continued, saying: 'We were in our wards and some had time to cover themselves, some didn’t.'

The day after the attack, Mariupol's Mayor Vadym Boychenko condemned Russia's attack as a 'cynical and destructive war against humanity.'

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information 

Topics: Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin, World News

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.