A photo of a baby born at sea during a perilous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by migrants from Africa has been made public by Spain’s maritime rescue service.

A baby was born on a crowded migrant dinghy which travelled from Africa to the Canary Islands this week, Spanish coast guards say. They have published a picture of the baby boy who was rescued on alongside his mother and scores of other migrants. The crowded inflatable raft was first spotted on 6 January off the island of Lanzarote.

Moment newborn baby is found on migrant boat off coast of Canary Islands - Mother gave birth to a baby boy while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, rescue teams say

A migrant holds a newborn baby as a woman lies inside a rubber boat with other migrants who were rescued off the island off the Canary Island of Lanzarote in Spain, in this handout picture obtained on January 8, 2025. SALVAMENTO MARITIMO/Handout via REUTERS

The number beats the previous record, set in 2023, as a recent report also points at a peak in the number of deaths recorded in the dangerous Atlantic migration route.

Last year, more than 43,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, a record-breaking figure that exceeds that of 2006, during the so-called 'Cayuco crisis'.

In 2024, a total of 9,757 people died attempting to reach the Canary Islands in small boats, equating to an average of 28 deaths per day.

The latest arrivals in 2025 add to growing concerns about the uptick in irregular migration to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.

A record 46,843 migrants reached Spain's Canary Islands illegally in 2024 via the increasingly deadly Atlantic route, the second consecutive year of unprecedented arrival numbers, official data showed on Thursday.