A man born on an Aer Lingus flight 39 years ago has been reunited with members of the cabin crew who helped deliver him.
Patrick Loureiro made history as the first baby to be born on an Irish plane with the help of an on-board doctor and an air hostess with nursing experience.
The baby boy arrived while on a charter flight from Mozambique to Lisbon in Portugal on June 11, 1975.
And earlier this week, following an extensive social media campaign, Loureiro – who was christened after the 747 aircraft St. Patrick he was born on – was traced and flown to Dublin for a reunion dinner with 12 members of the original crew.
Radio researcher Dave Sherry, who played a key role in locating Loureiro, also discovered his mother, Anne, had been part of the crew on the same flight.
The Irish Mirror reports that Sherry had been pursuing the story after reading about it on the airline's in-flight magazine, 'Cara.'
Sherry, who works on 2FM's "Tubridy" show, said: "I held on to the [Cara] clipping and put it into a file on my desk, thinking that would make a great documentary or maybe we should track down this kid Patrick.
"But then, my sister lives in Dublin and somebody called into her house the other night who had worked with Aer Lingus.
"They said to my sister, 'By any chance was your mother an Anne Sherry who worked for Aer Lingus in the 70s?', and my sister said 'Yeah, she was'. Then she said, 'Was your mum on the flight from Mozambique to Portugal when a baby was on board the flight', and my sister said, 'I have no idea'."
Sherry said the former Aer Lingus worker confirmed his mother had been on that flight after cross-checking details on the staff log book.
Loureiro's birth – in first class – wasn't the only drama that occurred on the flight that day, as the aircraft suffered engine trouble and was diverted to Rhodesia.
And in a radio interview during his trip to Dublin, Loureiro said there aren't many people in Portugal with a Christian name like his, as he was named after his unusual place of birth.
He said: "My father was a military soldier in Portugal, then he was stationed in Mozambique [former Portuguese colony]. With the revolution of Portugal in 1974 they needed to get out of Mozambique quickly."
He added that with civil war looming in the African country, Portugal began removing its troops from the region and his family left in 1975 just as he was due to be born.
Commenting on the tale on its blog, Aer Lingus said: "With a history dating back to 1936, we often come across some really interesting stories from the past that have been forgotten for a little while.
"It can be fun to re-surface them sometimes. The story of baby Patrick was one of those stories that was intriguing from the start."
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