There was near-panic at 30,000 feet yesterday morning when a nine-year-old girl suffered a liver hemorrhage during a plane flight to South Korea.

The South Korean national, name unspecified, received medical treatment after an emergency landing at Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport.

The girl was traveling from Guongzhou, Guangdong Province, where it is understood she had undergone surgery, but complications arose mid-flight.

The nine-year-old South Korean girl who was stricken with a liver hemmorhage while on a plane receives treatment at Children's Hospital of Fudan University yesterday. She is now in a stable condition, according to airport immigration police. (photo: Shanghai Daily)

Immigration officers were waiting at the airport's parking apron ready to rush the girl to hospital.

She is now in a stable condition at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University, according to immigration police at Hongqiao airport.

The officers said the girl had undergone surgery several days before boarding the flight with her mother.

The plane landed at 11:20am yesterday. Immigration officers boarded on the plane to complete the girl and her family's Custom procedures while medical workers helped with her transfer.

"A special passage was also opened for her to save time during her rescue," said Liu Yongjian, an immigration officer with the airport.

(Shanghai Daily November 15, 2007)