Three sisters aged 9, 11 and 17 drowned after the rubber boat carrying them and dozens of others ran into trouble on the central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy, a German sea-rescue charity said on Sunday.
RESQSHIP said its vessel Nadir reached a “dangerously overcrowded” boat that had been battered by waves up to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet). The sisters’ bodies were found inside the craft, the group said. Sixty-five people were rescued, including three pregnant women, children and a seven-month-old baby, while one person who fell overboard earlier remained missing. The charity did not give the girls’ nationality.
RESQSHIP said Nadir intercepted the boat, which had left Zuwara overnight Friday, after an alert from the hotline operator Alarm Phone. Italy’s coastguard evacuated 14 medical cases and relatives to Lampedusa on Saturday, and Nadir later brought the remaining survivors and the girls’ bodies to the island.