Migrant woman gives birth to baby girl on board boat
(ANSA) – Siracusa, October 22 – A woman is in hospital with a newborn baby girl after giving birth on board a boat carrying as many as 250 migrants to Italy.
Authorities say two Italian coast guard cutters arrived at the Sicilian port of Siracusa on Tuesday with the rescued migrants onboard – including the mother and her newborn.
They were rushed to hospital, along with another heavily pregnant woman rescued from the migrant boat.
The migrants, reportedly Syrian and Egyptian nationals, were rescued on Monday afternoon of the coast of Sicily by vessels patrolling the area as part of the new ‘Mare Nostrum’ surveillance operation following two migrant ship disasters earlier this month in which at least 400 people died.
Another boat spotted off the coast of Sicily was being monitored Tuesday afternoon by a Navy ship.