JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The stories you hear about migrants trying to reach Europe in smugglers' boats are often about tragedy. Thousands drown while making the dangerous journey. But today we can tell you a different story about a baby girl born at sea on an overcrowded rubber dinghy and rescued with her mother. NPR's Ruth Sherlock has this report.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Domingo Trujillo, the captain of the ship that rescued the migrants from the smugglers' boat, says he'd been told there was a heavily pregnant woman on board. He didn't expect what happened next.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DOMINGO TRUJILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
SHERLOCK: "The surprise was that we found a totally naked baby who was born 10, 15 or 20 minutes earlier," he says. Trujillo gave this interview to Spanish state television, TVE.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUJILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
SHERLOCK: He says he held the baby to his chest for warmth and patted them to calm them. Spain's sea rescue service, Salvamento Maritmo, published a photo of the rescue showing the naked newborn baby girl surrounded by migrants in the small, overcrowded boat that had over 60 people on board. They were found in the Atlantic Ocean, trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands from West Africa.
HELENA MALENO: (Speaking Spanish).
SHERLOCK: Helena Maleno, a spokesperson for the aid organization Caminando Fronteras, or Walking Borders, says this has become the deadliest route for migrants in the world. A new report by the group finds that over 9,000 migrants died last year trying to reach the Canary Islands by sea.
MALENO: (Speaking Spanish).
SHERLOCK: Maleno says the war in the Sahel forced recruitment into paramilitary groups. Human trafficking and climate change are among the reasons for this displacement. In 2024, almost 47,000 migrants reached the Canary Islands, according to data from Spain's interior ministry. The baby girl born on the migrant ship was born during Spain's Epiphany holiday, when children traditionally receive presents in honor of the Biblical story about the Three Kings who visited Baby Jesus. The pilot of the helicopter that took the baby and her mom to the nearby Island of Lanzarote for treatment, told the news agency Reuters that, being Three Kings Day, this was the best gift we could have received. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Rome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
