Cook delivers special surprise aboard dive boat

BURMA BANKS: A 28-year-old woman gave birth to a baby girl at sea while on a seven-day live-aboard Millennium dive trip from Phuket to the Burma Banks. While guests aboard the boat, the Ugly Duck, were having dinner on the upper deck on the evening of January 2, Chamnan (“Nang”) Srinuan, a second cook working for High Class Adventure Phuket, quietly went off to give birth to a baby girl in a small cabin she shared with another cook. Nang fortunately knew what to do because this was her third child. She told the Gazette that, first, she prepared a bed with a few sheets and a towel for the baby. Once the child was born, she used a small straight razor to cut the umbilical cord before tying it off. The whole procedure took just 30 minutes. The cries of her new-born baby could be heard throughout the boat, and her cabin-mate rushed in to check what was going on, then ran to alert the boss, Wolfgang Garhofer, the managing director of High Class Adventure Phuket. “I knew that the baby would be born soon,” Nang explained, “and I was thinking of taking a few days’ leave when I returned from the trip, but my little girl couldn’t wait. “I was supposed to clear the dining table when the guests finished their dinner, but I just couldn’t take the pain, which had started in the afternoon. So I told a fellow crew member that I was not feeling well and asked her if she could cover the duty alone.” Crew and passengers were astonished; Nang had denied being pregnant. She admitted, “Many people suspected that I was pregnant, including Wolfgang and his wife, Evi. But I denied it, and tried to hide my bulge by wearing big clothes.” She explained she was worried that if she admitted she was pregnant, she might no longer be able to work aboard the boat, and would have no income for herself and her baby. Ever the willing worker, Nang went back to her duties after the baby was born, cooking for guests until the boat made land three days later. Somruedee Sangsuwan, the office manager of High Class Adventure Phuket, told the Gazette, “I was shocked to hear the news from Wolfgang when he phoned from one of the islands. “We arranged a van to pick up Nang and her baby at the Tab Lamu port in Phang Nga upon their return on January 5, and took them straight to a hospital in town for medical checks.” Both Nang and her 2.6-kilo baby were found to be in good health. The baby doesn’t have a name yet, the mother said. “I shall wait for my brother to name her,” she explained, but added, “The guests on board called the child ‘Banky’ after the Burma Banks where she was born.”