Newborn rescued moments after birth on migrant boat off Spain’s Canary Islands

A newborn and her mother were rescued from a migrant boat off the Canary Islands, according to Spanish officials. The baby girl was born about 15 minutes before the rescue.

The rescue operation took place on January 7, according to Spain’s Maritime Rescue. A commercial vessel alerted authorities after spotting a boat carrying approximately 60 migrants near Lanzarote, off the Canary Islands.

Among the migrants were a mother and her newborn. The mother, identified as Hawa Keita, and the baby, A.K., were evacuated by helicopter to Arrecife Airport, where a medicalized ambulance was waiting to transfer them to a hospital, according to RTVE.

The baby girl was found naked in the arms of another person close to the mother, who was lying on the bow of the boat. The rescue team observed how the other migrants were caring for her and trying to improve the conditions around her.

“What’s the surprise? (that we found) a child totally naked and born 10, 15, or 20 minutes ago,” said Captain Domingo Trujillo, who led the rescue operation. He added that the mother “was aware that we were helping her. We put the baby on her chest and wrapped them.”

Captain Trujillo had previously experienced a similar situation in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a boat under his command rescued the occupants of another vessel where a woman had just given birth.