Italy: Baby born on migrant boat

An Italian coastguard official was on hand as a baby was born on a migrant boat. The official carried the infant off wrapped in a warm coat.

The Italian coastguard rescued 41 children and 203 adults, including a newborn baby, from a boat drifting a few miles off the coast of the Calabria region.The rescue was carried out overnight on Saturday November 28 into Sunday morning, November 28. It was complicated by difficult weather and rough sea conditions and lasted more than 16 hours, the coastguard said in a statement.

A total of 244 people, of which 41 minors including the baby born on the migrant boat on Saturday, were saved by the Italian coastguard.

Italy has seen a sharp increase in boat migrants in recent weeks and the latest arrivals will put further pressure on Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government to secure an agreement with European Union partners over how to deal with the influx.

Miracle of life on a treacherous journey

The miracle of life starting from a baby being born on a migrant boat just shows what desperate times the migrants are facing. Just a couple of days before this child came into the world, the Italian coastguards rescued another boat bursting with migrants. On November 25, a rescue operation started when an overloaded boat was struggling in the rough Mediterranean seas. The operation involved three ships and an aeroplane according to the coastguard’s statement. Rescue units saved people from floating in the water. Others were still on the boat. In total 296 lives were saved. The boat was located around 14 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Some 62,236 migrants have landed in Italy so far in 2021, interior ministry data show, against 32,542 in the same period last year.

This is just an example of two migrant rescues this week in Italian seas. The baby born on a migrant boat this week is probably not the last as every European country is facing multiple migrant rescues a day.

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