A Sierra Leonean eleven-year-old makes it through three days at sea

An 11-year-old Sierra Leonean girl was the only survivor of a shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa in Italy, and she was rescued overnight after three days at sea, a rescue charity said on Wednesday.

Around three in the morning, the crew of Germany’s CompassCollective, who were on their way to another emergency, heard shouts coming from the river and scooped up the girl, who was wearing a life jacket and clinging to a set of tire tubes.

She informed them that a metal boat she was traveling on with forty-five people had sunk in a storm after leaving the Tunisian city of Sfax.

After caring for the girl, a charity team transported her to Lampedusa, which is frequently the first place migrants arrive in Italy and is closer to North Africa than the rest of the country.

The Red Cross claimed that after receiving medical attention, the youngster was sent to a migrant holding center where volunteers and employees from Italy were caring for her.

In Italy, Nicola Dell’Arciprete, the head of the United Nations children’s organization UNICEF, stated, “My thoughts go out to the girl from Sierra Leone during this festive period, when most of us are fortunate to be with our loved ones.”

“Yet another tragedy that increases the number of dead and missing in the Central Mediterranean.”

The International Organization for Migration reports that since 2014, over 24,300 people have gone missing or died along the Mediterranean migration route between Tunisia, Libya, Italy, and Malta, making it one of the most hazardous in the world.

In a statement, the non-governmental organization Mediterranean expressed concern that three further migrant boats had vanished in the path connecting Tunisia and Italy in recent weeks and urged authorities to conduct a search and rescue.

“Lives in danger at sea cannot be abandoned,” Luca Casarini of Mediterranean said.

According to Italy, a decline in marine arrivals is a result of its strict immigration policy. Approximately 64,000 migrants have landed so far this year, down from almost 153,000 during the same time frame in 2023.