Stranded in paradise

PARENTS TRAPPED BY RED TAPE 4,000 MILES FROM HOME AFTER BABY BORN AT SEA

- LIV CLARKE

A MUM is 'stranded' off the coast of Grenada with her four-month-old baby after flying 4,000 miles across the world to give birth on a beach.

Iuliia Gurzhii and her husband Clive, from Tameside, say they 'feel like prisoners' as they cannot register their newborn's birth or apply for a passport, forcing them to stay in the Caribbean country.

The couple left Greater Manchester and were travelling to Rodney Bay, St Lucia, where Iuliia could fulfil her dream of having a 'natural' birth on the beach. But the 38-year-old's waters broke at sea and baby Louisa was born on April 23.

Since then they've faced a battle against bureaucracy to get her home.

The family also had to leave their eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth at home in the UK, as they couldn't get her passport renewed.

They were initially told by a hospital they couldn't register Louisa's birth because she was more than 24 hours old.

An immigration officer then said they needed proof the baby was theirs.

The couple claim the UK High Commission said they needed a DNA test and are still waiting to get the results.

Feeling 'stranded and abandoned' and running out of money, Iuliia and her husband say they don't know how they will get back to the UK.