There will be enormous admiration for the role of Irish nurse Aoife Ní Mhurchu in the birth of a baby boy on board a humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean just days after his refugee mother survived a perilous rescue from a rubber boat off the coast of Libya.
Ms Ní Mhurchu has been working on the MV Aquarius, run by the international aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, which last week alone helped 51 men and 18 women, five of whom were pregnant, who were taking terrifying risks to try and start a new life in Europe.
The volunteer from Cork, as we reported yesterday, assisted in the delivery of the child, given the appropriate name Miracle, and both mother and son are said to be doing well.
Thousands of migrants fleeing war and persecution in Africa have drowned in the same region over recent years, but the lives of many others, including little Miracle, have been saved by the heroic efforts of individuals like Ms Ní Mhurchu.
