⁍ Australian women were taken off a plane and subjected to an invasive search after the discovery of a newborn baby abandoned in the terminal.

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⁍ 13 Australians were among the women on the flight run by state-owned Qatar Airways.

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⁍ All adult women on the flight, regardless of age, were made to disembark for the examination.

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– Thirteen Australian women say they were treated shabbily when they were removed from a Qatar Airways flight and taken to an ambulance for a medical examination after a newborn was found in the bathroom of the plane’s gate at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, the BBC reports. The women, who were on their way back to Australia after a trip to New Zealand, say they were ordered off the Oct. 2 flight and taken to an area where they were searched “beyond circumstances in which the women could give free and informed consent,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Australian government says it has taken up the matter with Qatar’s ambassador. “This is a grossly disturbing, offensive, concerning set of events,” Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne told media, per Reuters. “It is not something I have ever heard of occurring in my life, in any context. We have made our views very clear to the Qatari authorities.” The women, who were treated at a hospital and quarantined for 14 days before being allowed to return to Australia, say they were ordered off the plane regardless of their age. Qatar Airways says the “medical professionals expressed concern to officials about the health and welfare of a mother who had just given birth and requested she be located prior to departing” the airport. “Individuals who had access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was found were asked to assist in the query,” the company said in a statement.