11-Year-Old Survives 3 Days At World’s Most Dangerous Migration Routes After Boat Sinks

A brave 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone was rescued after she survived three days in the Mediterranean Sea, after the sinking of a migrant boat carrying 45 people.

The girl was found clinging on two tyre inner tubes. She was the only survivor of the shipwreck near Italy’s Lampedusa island. The vessel departed from Sfax, a port city on Tunicia’s central coast, but encountered severe storms that caused it to capsize.

The girl was found by chance at around 3:20 a.m. by the crew of the German rescue ship Trotamar III, operated by the non-profit organisation, Compass Collective.

According to Compass Collective, the crew heard the child’s cries despite the noise of the ship’s engine. The skipper, Matthias Wiedenlübbert, described it as an extraordinary coincidence.

The crew immediately manoeuvred to save her and alerted the rescue control centre in Rome.

She was handed over to rescue services in Lampedusa for medical care, suffering from hypothermia but was alert and responsive. The girl told the rescuers that she had been in contact with other survivors in the water but lost sight of them two days before her rescue.

She was left with no food and water. The rescue crew searched for more survivors but couldn’t find anyone, as the storm, with waves over eight feet high, made it unlikely for others to survive.

The central Mediterranean Sea is one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes, with over 30,900 deaths or disappearances reported since 2014, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

This year alone, more than 64,000 migrants have been rescued on this route, including nearly 8,000 unaccompanied minors, according to Italian government data.

Since its operations began in August 2023, the Compass Collective has rescued 1,653 people in distress at sea. Crew member Katja Tempel said that people are forced to use unsafe migration routes even during storms.

Nicola Dell’Arciprete, head of UNICEF in Italy has urged for safer routes and better protections for vulnerable migrants. He described the incident as a reminder of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, where lives are lost every day.

Reference NBCNews, CNN

Source: Maritime Shipping News