A woman gave birth aboard a migrant boat attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, Spanish coast guards reported on Wednesday.

A woman gave birth aboard a migrant boat attempting to reach Spain's Canary Islands, according to Spanish coast guards.

On January 6, Spanish authorities were alerted to an inflatable boat carrying over 60 migrants adrift near the island of Lanzarote. Rescuers were informed that a pregnant woman was among the passengers.

Captain Domingo Trujillo of the rescue ship recounted the experience to Spanish broadcaster TVE, saying, "And what was our surprise but a totally naked baby on board, who had been born 10, 15, 20 minutes earlier."

Both the woman and her baby were in stable condition and were transported by helicopter to a hospital in Lanzarote.

Spain’s Civil Guard described the year’s start as demanding for their teams in the Canary Islands, posting on X a photo of the newborn baby on the migrant boat. According to Canary Islands broadcaster RTVC, over 2,000 migrants have already reached the islands’ shores in 2025.

This follows a record year in 2024, where 63,970 people entered Spain irregularly by land or sea. Nearly 47,000 of these migrants undertook the hazardous journey to the Canary Islands.

Despite the challenging circumstances, Trujillo revealed that this was the third time he had assisted in a birth on a migrant ship. He recalled cutting an umbilical cord during a rescue in 2020. Reflecting on the current rescue, he said, “It was rescuing in a terrible situation in which no one would ever want to be born.”

Trujillo acknowledged that such moments bring fleeting beauty to a job that can be deeply harrowing. He added, "Sometimes in this job, you have to remove corpses that have been absolutely destroyed. It’s something that really affects us."

In late 2024, the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras estimated that nearly 10,000 people lost their lives attempting to reach the Canary Islands last year, solidifying its reputation as one of the world’s most perilous migrant routes.