A Nigerian woman has given birth to a baby boy aboard a rescue ship during a migrant crossing from Libya.
Doctors said mother Faith and baby Newman Otas were doing fine on Wednesday after the Aquarius rescue ship docked in Brindisi, on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
The Aquarius, which is operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, had rescued about 140 migrants over the weekend. Faith, who had been in labor for three days, gave birth Monday aboard the Aquarius.
Sarah Giles, with Doctors Without Borders, said the birth was “a pretty normal birth just under really extraordinary circumstances.” She said Newman had the “good timing” to be born on the Aquarius since the dinghy was overcrowded and full of skin-burning seawater and diesel.
She said: “The mother and baby are great. They came off the ship as a family — mother, father, three children — which is really nice. It’s a good news story but unfortunately we have many children who don’t get off with their families and who during their long journey have had parents die, or parents who had their children die.”challenges to its passport-free travel zone known as the Schengen area.
A pool of 1 500 border guards and technical equipment will be on standby to rapidly deploy to countries struggling with extraordinary migration flows.
Liaison officers would be stationed in states to monitor migrant movements.
