Ananova:

A pregnant woman and her husband saw their baby delivered at the side of a Canadian highway because two hospitals turned them away.

Joe and Connie Dattilo, of Coquitlam, near Vancouver, British Columbia, had to call out paramedics during a trip back to the first hospital .

The delivery was complicated by the child's umbilical chord being wrapped around its neck, but mother and daughter are now doing fine.

A spokesman for Burnaby Hospital apologised for sending them to the Royal Columbian Hospital after saying they were short of staff, reports the Edmonton Journal.

The Royal gave Mrs Dattilo painkillers and sent her home but when, three hours later, she was told she could be admitted at Burnaby it was too late.

A spokeswoman for the Royal said: "It was unfortunate she delivered when she did but we couldn't have anticipated the way things would happen. We were also stretched."