Newborn rescued at sea amid dangerous migrant crossing to the Canary Islands

A newborn was rescued from the sea, its tiny, naked body resting on some belongings inside a rubber raft crowded with African migrants wearing winter jackets.

The image, released by Spain's maritime rescue services, was taken on Wednesday and shows the moment the baby and other occupants, who had risked the dangerous Atlantic crossing, were rescued while attempting to reach the Canary Islands, Spain.

While many Spaniards were celebrating Three Kings' Day on Monday, the crew of the rescue ship Guardamar Talía reached a group of people drifting on a small raft. Among them were the baby, its mother, and other migrants who were doing everything they could to reach Europe.

The aerial photograph reveals the baby and its likely mother, surrounded by several other men and women, all squeezed onto the vessel, with some people nearly hanging off the sides due to the overcrowding.

The captain of the rescue ship, Domingo Trujillo, had previously carried out a rescue operation in 2020, where another baby was also born during the crossing and rescued, according to the rescue service.

Last year, more than 61,000 people arrived in Spain irregularly by sea, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Of these, about 46,000 landed in the Canary Islands, 95 kilometers from Morocco, including thousands of unaccompanied minors.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that at least 5,000 people have died on this migration route since it began monitoring statistics in 2014.

However, the Spanish migrant rights organization Caminando Fronteras claims the actual death toll is much higher, with more than 10,000 people losing their lives or going missing while attempting this route last year.