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MILAN (AP) — In a tragic incident, an 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone was discovered adrift in the Mediterranean Sea near Lampedusa, Italy. She is reported to be the sole survivor of a migrant boat that capsized after leaving the Tunisian port of Sfax, as per a statement released by a humanitarian organization on Thursday.
The girl was rescued by the Trotamar III, a German-flagged sailing vessel, which took her to Lampedusa on Wednesday morning. The ship has been involved in humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean since August 2023, according to the German charity Compass Collective.
Upon rescue, she was found without food or water and showed signs of hypothermia.
“It was an incredible coincidence that we heard the voice of a girl even though the motors were running,’’ recounted Matthias Weidenluebbert, captain of the Trotamar III, in a statement.
As soon as they heard her cries, the crew ceased operations to locate her, with Compass Collective’s Katja Tempel revealing to The Associated Press, “She was exhausted and tired and cold, but in general, she was fine when we fetched her out of the water.”
According to the girl, she endured three days at sea while clinging to inflatable inner tubes and a life jacket. She explained that she had set sail on a metal boat along with around 45 others, maintaining contact with two individuals until two days prior to her rescue, after which contact was lost.
“We don’t know what happened to the people,” Tempel commented. ”We assume that they all drowned, but we don’t know what.”
The girl was found after a prolonged storm that affected the region, with wind speeds surpassing 23 knots and wave heights reaching over 2.5 meters (8 feet).
The Trotamar III, measuring 13 meters in length and operated by a rotating crew of six, has been instrumental in humanitarian rescue operations since it commenced activities three months ago, saving over 230 individuals to date. After rescuing the girl, the crew also distributed life jackets to 53 people aboard a motorless wooden vessel and informed Italian authorities of their location.
Overall, the Trotamar III crew has provided assistance to around 1,700 individuals, offering life jackets, alerting relevant authorities, and remaining with stranded individuals until help arrives. In more dire situations, they have actively transferred people aboard their ship.
According to United Nations data, which relies heavily on accounts from survivors, 1,536 individuals are reported to have died or are missing and presumed dead in the central Mediterranean this year. From the beginning of the year through Thursday, 64,234 individuals have successfully reached Italy, indicating a 58% decrease compared to the same period last year, when 153,211 arrivals were recorded.
“I want to emphasize, this girl is just a sign of the (deaths) in the Mediterranean,” said Tempel. ”She’s one person, and it’s very sad that she probably lost her relatives. But it is just a symbol for the tragedy that is happening.”
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This story has been corrected to clarify that the first name of the rescue group’s member is Katja, not Katya.
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For further updates on migration issues, visit the AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.
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