RAF airlift for premature twins

The plane touched down at Glasgow Airport after carrying the babies from Stornoway in the Western Isles. It is understood that the infants have now arrived at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow.

The emergency rescue operation began when the mother went into labour early on Sunday night and was taken to the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway, in the Outer Hebrides.

The aircraft was called in after severe weather conditions made the transfer to a maternity hospital in Glasgow too dangerous for an air ambulance.

The woman was 27 weeks pregnant when she went into labour, the Scottish Ambulance Service said. An ambulance spokesman said the condition of the twins was thought to be "very poor".

He said consultants from the Princess Royal, who had flown out to Stornoway and travelled with the twins, had done "as much as they could to keep them alive" during the flight.

The mother did not accompany the babies on the flight and was in a stable condition at the Western Isles Hospital, he said. She was expected to be transferred to Glasgow later in an air ambulance.

A Scottish Ambulance Service supervisor said a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter carrying medical staff and incubators had landed earlier on Stornoway to help stabilise the twins.

He said: "We received a call at about 6.30pm last night that a 27 weeks pregnant female was having a twin birth. It is my understanding that the twins were born late last night, but we don't know what their condition is.

"We sent two consultants to Stornoway in the Sea King but, because of forecasts of snow and high winds, we didn't feel it was safe to fly to the mainland."