A healthy baby boy named Miracle has been born on board a humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean.
Baby Miracle was born in international waters at 3.45pm (local time) yesterday, with his mother rescued just days before by an Italian navy vessel and later transferred to the Aquarius ship.
The Aquarius is a search and rescue vessel run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee.
The birth comes as the tide of migrants risking sea crossings from Libya to Italy increases as the weather improves.
Irish nurse Aoife Ní Mhurchu, of MSF, said, "The situation in Libya is extremely dangerous for refugees and migrants, with very little access to medical care.
"If she had gone into labour just 48 hours beforehand she would have given birth hiding on a beach in Libya, without any medical assistance."
She added: "She told me their boat actually departed on Wednesday but after a few short minutes the engine failed and they were returned to shore.
"The smugglers demanded they hide on the beach, then disappeared and didn’t return for 24 hours. At this point she was left terrified, heavily pregnant, and without food or water," Ms Ní Mhurchu added.
The new mother told MSF that she spent one year in Libya where she said she was held captive, beaten, given very little food and extorted for money for release.
She said she escaped with her partner and hundreds of others earlier this year and had since been hiding in a friend's house in Libya, before undertaking the sea crossing on Thursday.
Both the baby and his mother were said to be doing well and were due to reach the port of Catania in Sicily today.
The child is the 36th baby to be born on board one of the ships that patrol the Mediterranean rescuing migrants attempting to reach Europe in search of a better life.
Meanwhile, Spain's maritime rescue service today said it had rescued 532 migrants who were attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea from north Africa this weekend.
Rescue boats intercepted 239 migrants travelling in eight small boats off Spain's southern coast today, a day after 293 migrants were pulled from nine vessels.
Three of the boats sank today right after the migrants were plucked from them due to their "poor state", the maritime service said in a Twitter message.
Favourable weather in the Strait of Gibraltar also appears to have sparked the surge in sea crossings.
Each year, tens of thousands attempt to reach Spain and other southern European countries by crossing the Mediterranean in smuggler boats.
Most of the vessels are unfit for open water and thousands of migrants drown each year.
Spain is the third busiest gateway for migrants arriving in Europe, still far behind Italy but catching up fast with Greece.
