Spanish coast guard rescued baby born on inflatable boat carrying migrants to the Canary Islandsauthorities announced Wednesday.
The newborn was found safe and sound with his mother on Monday, the coast guard said in a statement. post on social media.
They were the last to make the crossing which saw thousands drown as migrants tried to reach the Atlantic archipelago from Africa.
“Christmas ended in the Canaries with the rescue of a baby born while crossing the sea,” the coastguard said. “Our crews in the Canaries have started the year intensely. »
SALVAMENTO MARITIMO/document via REUTERS
A coast guard boat “rescued a mother who had given birth on board the inflatable boat in which she was traveling with a large group of people”. The Reuters news agency reported that the newborn was a baby girl.
The two men were transported by helicopter to Arrecife, on the island of Lanzarote, the statement added.
Domingo Trujillo, captain of the agency’s rescue ship, told Spanish news service EFE that the coast guard vessel had rescued a total of 60 people, including 14 women and four children.
“The baby was crying, which indicated to us that she was alive and there was no problem, and we asked the woman for permission to undress her and clean her,” he said. “The umbilical cord had already been cut by one of his traveling companions. The only thing we did was check on the child, hand her over to her mother and pack her up for the trip. »
Trujillo told Reuters that rescue teams were exhausted but motivated by their mission.
“Almost every evening we leave at dawn and come back late,” he told Reuters. “This case is very positive, because it was a newborn, but in all the services we carry out, even if we are tired, we know that we are helping people in distress. »
A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024 via the Atlantic route, according to official data released this month.
Last June, a cruise ship saved 68 people adrift on a fishing boat off the coast of the Canary Islands. A cruise ship passenger from Vancouver, Canada, told CBS News that it took a few hours to rescue the migrants on the ship and that about five people on board died.