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'Normal birth in dangerously abnormal conditions': Baby born on rescue vessel in international waters

The baby boy’s mother said she was having contractions for three days on a rubber boat.

Alva White / MSF Alva White / MSF / MSF

A HEALTHY BABY boy has been delivered on board a search and rescue vessel in international waters.

The baby boy was born to Nigerian parents and they have called him Newman Otas. His parents, Oras and Faith, and his older brothers Victory (7) and Rollres (5) were rescued from an overcrowded rubber boat 24 hours before he was delivered.

baby boy born on MV Aquarius Victory and Rollres (pictured here with the father) were rescued from an overcrowded rubber boat. Alva White / MSF Alva White / MSF / MSF

Speaking after giving birth aboard a vessel run by Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Mediterranee, Faith said: “I was very stressed on the rubber boat, sitting on the floor of the boat with the other women and children. Panicking that I would go into labour. I could feel my baby moving, he would move down and then move back up again.”

New arrival on Aquarius Faith with her new baby Newman, her son Rollres and midwife Jonquil Nicholl. Alva White / MSF Alva White / MSF / MSF

I had been having contractions for three days.

MSF Midwife Jonquil Nicholl, who delivered the baby, described it as “a very normal birth in dangerously abnormal conditions”.

“I am filled with horror at the thought of what would have happened if this baby had arrived 24 hours earlier; in that unseaworthy rubber boat, with fuel on the bottom where the women sit, crammed with no space to move, at the mercy of the sea,” she said.

And 48 hours previously they were waiting on a beach in Libya not knowing what was ahead of them. How can this still happen in 2016? That families, vulnerable people, pregnant women, tiny babies and unborn babies are forced to risk their lives in the Mediterranean Sea when they should be receiving assistance and protection.

Alva White / MSF Alva White / MSF / MSF

Currently 392 people are on board the MC Aquarius after people from two rubber boats were rescued and one transfer was accepted. 155 people now on board are under 18 years of age and 141 of those are travelling alone – without a parent or guardian accompanying them. There are 11 children under the age of five and four babies under a year now on board.

Since the beginning of the operations in April 2016, MSF teams have rescued more than 12,000 people during 89 different operations.

Read: The LÉ James Joyce has rescued another 108 migrants in the Mediterranean>

Read: Newborn twins among 3,000 rescued from rubber boats at sea>

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    Mute Ben McArthur
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:09 AM

    Er, a Swedish trademark gives you exclusive rights in Sweden, and then only for the specific classes of goods and services you apply for. If you want pan EU rights, you need an EUTM, which costs a lot more than €370.

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    Mute Paul Mc Manus
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:29 AM

    @Ben McArthur: true true. But still a clever idea. I think it’s about €25k plus for a European patent. I have one on the word “cosrfhgafesfull”

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    Mute Mick Power
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:13 AM

    @Paul Mc Manus: €370 too much it’ll be forgotten about in a week.

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    Mute Carlin Ite
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:08 AM

    Such amount of crap generated over a typo.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:03 AM

    @Carlin Ite: well he did send out the troops to deny that it was an error rather than be honest about it

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    Mute Gareth Stewart
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 6:30 AM

    Amazing scoop. For a president the media loves to hate, they’re sure getting good miles to the gallon.

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    Mute Conor Hall
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 11:09 AM

    How is it savvy to have a trademark on something everyone will have forgotten by next week?

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    Mute Paul Mc Manus
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:26 AM

    Very clever.

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:44 AM

    @Paul Mc Manus: remember the guy who TM’d ’21st Century Fox’. That was worth a try, … but Fox just rebranded their old logo.

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    Mute Kieran Stafford
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 9:58 AM

    It’ll covfefe be a flash on the pan

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    Mute Ian Moloney
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:59 AM

    Neologisms are a sign of schizophrenia traditionally.

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    Mute Neville Patterson
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:36 AM

    If he comes up with a good definition it’ll be worth the trouble

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:46 AM

    @Neville Patterson: definition will be simple enough, defending a simple and obvious error instead if admitting said error.

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    Mute Tomasz Irlandczik Krótki
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:28 PM

    @Neville Patterson: it actually means to mate with a particular poodle, or with a lady bearing the same name.

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    Mute TorKing
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 11:32 AM

    Trump is filing a lawsuit to claim his rights back

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:58 AM

    Load of crap really.

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    Mute Peter McGlynn
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 10:36 AM

    And Trump had invested in him last week.

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    Mute Bríde Ní Bheaglaoích
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 8:42 AM

    Is it not a protologism?

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    Mute Tomasz Irlandczik Krótki
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    Jun 3rd 2017, 7:26 PM

    Try ‘fecoffee’ next time. It means to have a coffee and to feck off at the same time. It’s copyright, by the way.

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