A healthy baby boy has been born on a migrant rescue ship sailing from Libya to Italy. His mother, who was fleeing captivity, gave him the name Miracle.
Miracle, who weighed 6lbs and 2oz, came to the world at 3:35 p.m. Thursday, May 24. He and his mother are currently doing well, according to midwife Amoin Soulemane.
The baby boy is the sixth infant born aboard a rescue ship and the first for 2018, reports revealed. Other migrants sang, dance and cheered upon learning of his birth on the Aquarius rescue ship.
Miracle's mother, who remains unnamed, was one of hundreds of Libyans who escaped captivity earlier this year. She was reportedly beaten and received little food while in captivity and escaped on a rubber boat when she was already heavily pregnant.
Nurse Aoife Ni Mhurchu said that smugglers helped the mother, who was by then 34 weeks pregnant, escape last Wednesday but their boat broke down. They had to return to Libya's shores so that the smugglers could regroup and gather more resources.
The refugees were told to hide on the beach. When the smugglers did not return for 24 hours, they started to worry that they would never make it out of the country.
Mhurchu said that had the mother stayed longer on the shore, she would have given birth to Miracle in dire conditions. Reports state that although the baby was born in international waters, he would have Nigerian citizenship.
The Aquarius is one of many humanitarian ships coasting near the waters of Libya for refugees regularly. Its crew includes members from the SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF).
An Aquarius spokesperson told Reuters, "It's really hard to know what's happening inside Libya, or why the Libyan coastguard has not been so active in these last few days."
