Immigrant boat baby safe in Granada hospital

A Nigerian woman gave birth to a baby girlon Sundaynight on board a small immigrant smuggling vessel near the island of Alborán, in the sea between Morocco and Spain. Both mother and child are in good health in a hospital in Motril, Granada.

"The mother was tired, a bit trembly," said Luisa Ferriz, a Red Cross nurse. The newborn baby, named Happiness by her mother, weighed 3.6 kilos and was "in very good shape," Ferriz continued.

This is partly thanks to Civil Guard Carlos Puche who cradled the baby against his chest after the craft was rescued by Spanish coastguard from a beach on Alborán island, during the two hour journey to Motril where they arrived on Sunday night at 11pm. He told agencies last night of his relief every time the baby cried as "a sign that she was alive."

The fishing boat had seven pregnant women aboard and five young children, of a total of 38 passengers from Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.

Happiness' father and the others immigrants are in police custody, awaiting removal to a CIE detention center.