CZECH WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO COUNTRY'S QUINTUPLETS

A 23-year-old woman has given birth to quintuplets in the Czech Republic, officials say, a first for the country.

Alexandra Kinova had four boys and a girl by caesarean section on Sunday, they say.

The births took place "without any complications", according to doctors at Prague's Institute for the Care of Mother and Child.

The mother and babies were placed in an intensive care unit but are believed to be in a good condition.

The Czech Republic's first quintuplets, who were conceived naturally without IVF, have a 95% chance of growing up healthy, the Associated Press quoted Zbynek Stranak, chief doctor at the neonatal section of the institute, as saying.

The boys' names are reportedly Deniel, Michael, Alex and Martin, while the girl is called Terezka.

Their mother, who is from the town of Milovice, about 20km (12 miles) north-east of the capital, Prague, already had one son.

She originally believed she was pregnant with twins, but in March doctors upped it to four - and then five in April.

The father of the quintuplets was present at the delivery despite his train being delayed, according to the newspaper Ceske Noviny.

"I was crying all the way since I feared I would not manage it," he said.