British man is arrested ‘after trying to flee Romania following hit-and-run crash’

A British man has been arrested as he allegedly tried to flee Romania after he drove into a heavily pregnant woman on a pedestrian crossing and caused her to miscarry in a hit-and-run. 

Ali Aboungab, 24, was detained at Cluj International Airport in northern Romania in the early hours of this morning after trying to leave the country following the crash.

Aboungab allegedly hit a woman, who was eight months pregnant, with his black Mercedes as she walked across a pedestrian crossing in central Bucharest last night.

The injured pregnant victim was rushed to St. Pantelimon Hospital in the Romanian capital but medics were not able to save her baby, reports news site Gandul. 

Aboungab, who is originally from Lebanon, fled the scene in his Mercedes, which has now been found by police officers.

Police put out an alert for Aboungab’s arrest and border guards at Cluj International Airport detained him as he was going through passport control.

Aboungab has been about to board a 6am flight to Luton airport when he was arrested.  

Earlier, police said they were called to reports of a woman who had been hit by a car in District 3 of Bucharest.

‘From the first investigations, it was established that a female person was injured by a car whose driver did not stay at the scene of the accident,’ a police officer told the news site.

‘The pedestrian was injured, a pregnant, and she was transported to the hospital for medical car.’

Officer said that Aboungab had been arrested at the airport and will be driven to a police station where he will be questioned. 

MailOnline has contact the UK’s Foreign Office for comment.