A heavily pregnant woman who was rescued from sea in a dramatic airlift from a migrant ship has given birth to a baby boy named ‘Goodluck’.
An Armed Forces of Malta helicopter evacuated 23-year-old Nigerian, Gift, from the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship in an emergency operation on Wednesday night.
She was taken to Mater Dei Hospital, where she gave birth to her son a day later.
Speaking to Times of Malta from her hospital bed, Gift and her husband, Gabriel, 27, described how they left Nigeria for a better life in Libya, but say they were victims of human trafficking and abuse.
Gift was quoted by the Times as saying that Libya was not a good place and had no option but to escape. She added “I did not want to give birth there, so I prayed to God and trusted in him. I just want a safe place and a comfortable home for our family.”
Her husband Gabriel said they left Nigeria two years and four months ago.
Aboard the Ocean Viking there were a total of 82 migrants. Some, including 12 children, were rescued off the Libyan coast on Sunday, while 34 were transferred to the ship from the sailboat Josefa in a heavy storm on Monday night, some 60 nautical miles off the Libyan coast.
Via The Times
