Two soldiers on duty in a central Rome square helped a woman give birth when she went into labour as she tried to reach a nearby hospital on foot, according to reports on Wednesday.
The soldiers were guarding a Jewish synagogue in Piazza San Bartolomeo on Rome's Tiberine Island when they heard cries from the woman at around 10.45 pm on Tuesday.
The two men rushed to the woman's aid and were just in time to help deliver a healthy baby girl and to cut her umbilical cord as emergency services arrived.
"I have no idea how I did it. I don't even have children," said corporal Francesco Manca," quoted by La Repubblica newspaper.
The 33-year-old Congolese woman had taken a bus to Rome from the nearby town of Monterotondo, fearing the birth was imminent. She was heading for Rome's FateBene Fratelli hospital on the Tiberine Island when she went into labour.
The woman and baby were admitted to the FateBene Fratelli, one of Rome's best-known maternity hospitals.
She has two other children at home with her husband in Monterotondo.
