The humanitarian group Compass Collective said on Wednesday that 44 migrants were missing after a boat sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. The fact that 45 people sailed on it is known only from the account of the only survivor, an 11-year-old girl who waited three days to be rescued.
“We assume that this is the only survivor after the boat sank, and the remaining 44 passengers drowned,” wrote the Compass Collective organization, which takes part in missions to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, in a statement.
Members of the organization were sailing on another rescue mission when they heard a cry from the water on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. They recovered an 11-year-old girl wearing a life jacket who said she had been in the sea for three days.
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Only she survived
“The eleven-year-old was taken to Lampedusa and, after receiving medical attention, was placed in a migrant center where she is cared for by Red Cross workers and volunteers,” the Red Cross said.
The survivor said she was from Sierra Leone. A metal boat with 45 migrants, she said, left from the city of Saphakis in Tunisia and sank in a storm.
“The migration route between Tunisia and Libya, Italy and Malta is one of the most dangerous in the world. More than 24,300 people have died or gone missing on it since 2014,” the International Organization for Immigration reported.
The runway and the port of Lampedusa in the backgroundinterno.gov.it
Main photo source: interno.gov.it