A photo captures rescue of a baby born on dangerous sea crossing to Spain's Canary Islands

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MADRID (AP) — The newborn has been just been delivered at sea, its tiny naked body resting on belongings in a rubber boat crammed with migrants from Africa in winter jackets.

The photo released by Spain’s maritime rescue service Wednesday captured the rescue of the baby and other occupants who made a perilous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.

While most Spaniards were celebrating Epiphany on Monday, the crew of the Guardamar Talía rescue craft reached people adrift in a small rubber boat. It was carrying the newborn, mother and other passengers who were risking their lives to reach Europe.

The photo taken from above shows the infant and its apparent mother with several other men and women crammed into the boat, so packed that some people are straddling its sides.

The rescue vessel’s captain, Domingo Trujillo, had already carried out a rescue operation in 2020 that included the safe handling of a baby who had been born during the journey, the rescue service said.

Over 61,000 people reached Spain in irregular fashion via sea last year, according to the Interior Ministry. Some 46,000 of those landed in the Canary Islands, 95 kilometers (59 miles) from Morocco. They included several thousands unaccompanied minors.

The International Organization for Migration attributes at least 5,000 deaths to the migration route since it started monitoring statistics in 2014. But Spanish migration rights group Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) says that the real death toll is much higher and that over 10,000 people died or went missing while attempting the route last year alone.

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