Audio By Carbonatix
Genetics experts have been amazed by the birth of a blonde, blue-eyed white baby - to a black couple.
Doctors insist tiny Nmachi is not an albino and neither of the parents has any mixed-race family history.
Dad Ben Ihegboro, 44, a railway customer services adviser, said: "We both just sat there after the birth staring at her for ages - not saying anything.
"The first thing I said was 'What the flip?'."
Nmachi, whose name means Beauty of God in the Nigerian homeland of parents Angela and Ben, was born at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup, Kent.
Doctors there told them she is not an albino.
"She doesn't look like an albino child anyway - not like the ones I've seen back in Nigeria or in books," Ben told The Sun. "She just looks like a healthy white baby."
Ben added: "Of course, she's mine. My wife is true to me. Even if she hadn't been, the baby still wouldn't look like that.
"We don't know of any white ancestry. We wondered if it was a genetic twist. But even then, what's with the long curly blonde hair?"
Professor Bryan Sykes, head of Human Genetics at Oxford University, said: "In mixed race humans, the lighter variant of skin tone may come out in a child - and this can sometimes be startlingly different to the skin of the parents.
"This might be the case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations. But in Nigeria there is little mixing."
He said that both parents would have needed some form of white ancestry for a pale version of their genes to be passed on.
"The hair is extremely unusual," Prof Sykes said. "Even many blonde children don't have blonde hair like this at birth."
Some form of unknown mutation was the most likely explanation, he added.
The couple, of Woolwich, south London, have two other children, four-year-old Chisom and sister Dumebi, two.
Mum Angela, 35, told the paper: "Nmachi's colour doesn't matter. She's a miracle baby. But still, what on earth happened here?"
Source: Sky News
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Tags:
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Latest Stories
-
2,722 BECE results under investigation as WAEC cracks down on exam malpractice
1 hour -
Small Feet, Busy Roads: Why Ghana is failing its children every school morning
2 hours -
2026 BECE results released; over 3,600 absent as thousands await final verdict
2 hours -
The contention that a President is limited by a consecutive tenure of two terms secures a third term for Mahama
2 hours -
St. Monica’s returns to NSMQ with hard-fought win over Presby Bompata
2 hours -
Universities must equip students with practical skills to tackle graduate unemployment — Vice Chancellors Ghana
3 hours -
Ghana has not overproduced nurses; recruitment delays are the problem – Nursing and Midwifery Council
3 hours -
Nursing and Midwifery Council awaits report before sanctioning nurses over Charles Amissah’s death
3 hours -
Government rolls out six new regulations to operationalise EPA Act 1124
3 hours -
2022 nurse recruitment to begin before end of 2026 – Health Minister
4 hours -
Women’s empowerment alone does not guarantee economic justice – Sheila Minkah-Premo
4 hours -
WAFCON 2026: Black Queens make winning start with victory over Cape Verde
4 hours -
Health Minister outlines measures for safe storage and distribution of medical products
4 hours -
Too young for sugar sickness: The rise of diabetes among children in GhanaÂ
4 hours -
Peace is an investment Ghana must continuously protect – Hannah Tetteh
4 hours