By Corina Pons and Inti Landauro
MADRID (Reuters) – A baby girl, who was born on a packed migrant dinghy headed for Spain’s Lanzarote island in the Canaries, was being treated in hospital along with her mother and both were in good condition, medical and regional government authorities said on Thursday.
The pair were being treated with antibiotics and monitored by a pediatric team, Dr Maria Sabalich, emergency coordinator of the Molina Orosa University Hospital in Lanzarote, told Reuters.
“The mother and child are safe,” she said. “They are still in the hospital, but they are doing well.”
The Spanish coastguard said the boat carrying the pregnant mother had embarked from Tan-Tan, a province in Morocco about 135 nautical miles (250 km) southeast of Lanzarote.
Upon discharge from hospital, the mother and infant will be received at a humanitarian center for migrants, before likely being moved to a reception centre for mothers and young children on another island, Cristina Ruiz, a spokesperson for the Spanish government in the Canaries capital Las Palmas, told Reuters.
The latest arrivals add to the thousands of migrants that strike out for the Canaries from the western African coast each year on a perilous sea voyage that claims thousands of lives.
Thanks to good weather, the rescue operation was straightforward, Domingo Trujillo, captain of the Spanish coastguard ship that rescued the migrants – a total of 60 people including 14 women and four children – told Spanish wire service EFE.
“The baby was crying, which indicated to us that it was alive and there were no problems, and we asked the woman’s permission to undress her and clean her,” he said. “The umbilical cord had already been cut by one of her fellow passengers. The only thing we did was to check the child, give her to her mother and wrap them up for the trip.”
Overnight, the Canary Islands’ rescue services recovered two more boats, bearing a total of 144 people.
According to Spanish migration charity Walking Borders, 9,757 people died on the Atlantic Route to the Canary Islands from West Africa in 2024. The route from Morocco and Western Sahara are most commonly used by women who routinely suffer sexual violence, discrimination, racism and deportations while in transit.
Trujillo said the crews were exhausted but proud of their work.
“Almost every night we leave at dawn and arrive back late,” he said. “This case is very positive, because it was with a newborn, but in all the services we do, even if we are tired, we know we are helping people in distress.”
(Reporting by Corina Pons and Inti Landauro, writing by Aislinn Laing; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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