A five-month-old baby died of heart failure on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul with his mother, who has been accused of suspected links with the Islamic State (ISIS), AFP reported.
The baby, Muhammed al-Amin Mahiev, was the son of a French woman of Syrian origin, Iman Mahiev, who was being deported to France from Turkey over terrorism charges, diplomatic sources told AFP.
The flight was an internal flight between the south-eastern city of Gaziantep and Istanbul. The baby is also a French citizen.
After landing at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, they were both to have been put on a flight back to France. But that was not to be as the baby, who was born pre-mature died on the Gaziantep-Istanbul flight despite efforts to save him, according to Turkish media reports.
Iman Mahiev was first detained at the border between Turkey and Syria, before the decision to deport her to France was taken, diplomatic sources told AFP.
Gaziantep lies on the Turkish border with serious and has in the past been a major getaway for those seeking to link up with IS jihadists.
Before its new-found vigour in deporting foreigners suspected of trying to use its borders to connect to terrorist groups, Turkey had been criticised for not doing enough.
A number of deadly attacks orchestrated by IS jihadists on Turkish soil is believed to have awoken the country to its responsibilities.
It is not the first time that the country’s security agencies would be arresting and deporting foreigners suspected of links to terror groups to their home countries.
Photo: File photo