A baby was born on an Irish naval vessel last night, after her mother and over 700 other migrants were rescued from a series of vessels off the Libyan coast.

Defence Force medics delivered the baby on board the Irish ship LÉ Eithne, having rescued 703 migrants attempting to sail to Europe.

Both the mother and child are said to be healthy and well.

The Irish vessel arrived at the scene yesterday afternoon, where they rescued migrants from five inflatable boats, before mounting a large-scale operation to along side NGO boats, rescue ten platforms in distress, and taking a transfer of rescued people from NGO boats.

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The migrants will now sail to a designated “Port of Safety” in Catania, Sicily, where it is estimated that they will be handed over to the Italian Authorities tomorrow morning.

The Irish Defence Forces first deployed the ship, LÉ Eithne, to the Mediterranean on May 23, 2017 as part of the Government’s response to the migrant crisis.

Since the ship was originally deployed to tackle the first wave of the crisis in 2015, it has rescued over 15,000 migrants.

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