MADRID (AP) – Photo of a child born at sea during a dangerous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean migrants from Africa were released on Wednesday by Spain's maritime rescue service.
While most Spaniards celebrated Epiphany on Monday, the team of the Guardamar Talía rescue boat reached displaced people in a small rubber boat heading to Spain's Canary Islands. The boat was carrying the newborn, the mother and other passengers who were risking their lives to reach Europe.
The picture taken above shows the child and his mother apparently with several other men and women crammed into the boat, so crowded that some people are crossing it in terms of.
Trusted news and daily excitement, right in your inbox
See for yourself – The Yodel is the source for daily news, entertainment and feel good stories.
The captain of the rescue ship, Domingo Trujillo, had already carried out a rescue operation in 2020 that included the safe handling of a baby born on the trip, the rescue service said.
More than 61,000 people arrived in Spain in irregular fashion by sea last year, according to the Ministry of the Interior. About 46,000 of these landed in the Canary Islands, 95 kilometers (59 miles) from Morocco. They included several thousand unaccompanied minors.
The International Organization for Migration estimates at least 5,000 deaths on the migration route since they began tracking statistics in 2014. But the Spanish migrant rights group Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) says that the actual death toll is much higher and that there is more. 10,000 people died or he got lost while attempting the route only last year.
___
Continue AP's coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
