A newborn on a sea ferry

A girl was born on Saturday morning on board the ferry operator DFDS ship “Regina Seaways” headed from Klaipeda to Kiel. This is the first child of a Lithuanian family. “The pregnancy was smooth, a doctor confirmed that the travelers are still safe, but the daughter decided otherwise,” joked the happy father of the newborn. According to Vaidas Klumbis, DFDS’s Head of Public Relations and Communication for the Baltic States, the official birth date of the girl is Saturday morning at 4.16 am. The birth was taken in the middle of the sea, en route to the port of Kiel. “Speaking to crew members, no one remembers a similar case”. It is a uniquely beautiful and bright event for the family and the crew as well. A girl and her mother were flown by helicopter to a Polish hospital directly from the ferry.

According to the law of Merchant Shipping of the Republic of Lithuania, if a child is born on board, the master of the ship has to issue his/her birth certificate. Such an act shall be signed by two witnesses-members of the ship’s crew. The birth of a child on board shall be recorded in the logbook.