A Nigerian woman has given birth to a baby on board a rescue ship in the Mediterranean.
The woman gave birth to the boy after being taken from an overcrowded rubber boat.
Medical charity MSF said because the boy’s nationality was debatable because he was born in international waters.
The gorgeous little guy was born in international waters so his nationality is still under discussion. pic.twitter.com/xPDwUbLbYg
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) September 12, 2016
The birth was described by a midwife aboard the rescue ship MV Aquarius as “normal… in dangerously abnormal conditions”.
" A very normal birth in dangerously abnormal conditions " #MSF midwife Jonquil. New arrival on #Aquarius pic.twitter.com/fc8vwiA43l
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) September 12, 2016
MSF said the baby’s parents, Otas and Faith Oqunbor, had named him Newman Otas.
They had been making the dangerous crossing from Libya with their two other children, aged seven and five, and were rescued just 24 hours before the baby was born.
MSF reported the baby’s birth on Monday by using Twitter.
“Just over an hour ago a baby boy was born on board the Aquarius. Mum, bub, dad and 2 big brothers are all well,” MSF said.
Just over an hour ago a baby boy was born on board the #Aquarius. Mum, bub, dad and 2 big brothers are all well. pic.twitter.com/IVY6pihJHz
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) September 12, 2016
Mrs Oqunbor said she had been “very stressed” on the rubber boat and had been having contractions for three days.
Jonquil Nicholl, an MSF midwife who delivered the baby, said: “I am filled with horror at the thought of what would have happened if this baby had arrived 24 hours earlier – in that unseaworthy rubber boat, with fuel on the bottom where the women sit, crammed in with no space to move, at the mercy of the sea.
“And 48 hours previously they were waiting on a beach in Libya not knowing what was ahead of them.”
SEE ALSO: 15 bodies pulled from sea, 2,700 migrants saved in one day in the mediterranean sea
