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Marine godfathers tumble for baby Natasha

"She was in labour and the engines were loud and running fast to quickly get us back to Aberdeen. Then we heard a little cry and everything just fell silent, even the engines dropped - it was the most amazing experience of my life," said Sergeant Ng Wai-lap of Marine South Division, gazing into the eyes of baby Natasha Thomas. He and his three Police Constables, Tong Siu-hung, Lai Kwok-cheung and Lai Kai-wah, met the little charmer after her parents dropped by Aberdeen Marine Police Base on July 13 to say thanks for their help.

Baby Natasha emerged in the wee hours of July 6 in the cabin of their Police Launch No. 31 while her mother was being rushed from Lamma Island to Aberdeen in labour.

Baby's berth: SGT Ng Wai-lap (left) and his three PCs play with baby Natasha Jenny Thomas started getting labour pains about 3.30 am at the her home in Mo Tat New Village and her husband Tom called for help.

The launch sped to the scene and the officers carried her down almost 100 steps from the village to the pier, seating her in a chair in the cabin as the launch raced towards Aberdeen. But the contractions became too much and little Natasha decided she wanted out, to the astonishment of all aboard.

"We were rushing back but we heard the baby cry and then everyone and everything went quiet. Never in my years as a Marine Police officer have I ever seen anything like it,"SGT Ng said.

"I think there may have been a similar case of a birth in North District about 10 years ago, but for me to have this experience was just amazing. I think 31 is our lucky number because that was the number of the launch."

The vessel eased its way into port and mother and baby were safely escorted to hospital where they were certified hale and hearty. Although arriving over a week early, little Natasha weighed in at 3.16 kilograms.

OffBeat was on hand when the proud parents popped by the base.

"We made the call and only about 15 minutes later the officers arrived, even after running up the 98 steps from the pier and organising a medical officer," Mr Thomas said.

Officers croon sweet little sea shanty Four Marine officers became adopted "uncles" recently when little Natasha Thomas was born in the cabin of their police launch. They were speeding her mother from Lamma Island to hospital in the wee hours of July 6. But while rushing back to Aberdeen the baby's faint cries suddenly drowned out the roar of the speeding diesel engines "Although they were just as surprised as us the baby came by herself, they remained professional and helped us all the way. I was impressed they called extra services like the ambulance officer and despite being from different services they worked really well together."

The couple's fourth child, Natasha almost made an even earlier appearance when Mrs Thomas experienced a labour scare about two months before.

"We had to call for help but it turned out to be a bit of a false alarm. So this time when the symptoms appeared again we thought we'd leave it a little while before calling.

"But the launch birth was totally unexpected and we want to thank the officers very much, they did a great job. They are almost surrogate fathers," Mr Thomas said.

"The baby has a lot of uncles!"