Tragedy in the Mediterranean: 3 sisters drown while trying to escape Libya
Sisters died in the Mediterranean Sea during a dangerous attempt to flee from Libya (Illustrative photo: Getty Images)
Three sisters from Sudan, aged 9, 11, and 17, died while attempting to flee to Europe. Their overcrowded rubber boat carrying migrants, with which they were trying to reach Italy, began to sink, according to the German non-profit rescue organization RESQSHIP.
At around 1 a.m. on the night of Friday, August 22, to Saturday, August 23, in the central Mediterranean Sea, the rescue vessel NADIR operated by the German organization RESQSHIP evacuated 65 migrants from the sinking, overloaded rubber boat.
The distress call came in on Friday evening through the Alarm Phone hotline.
It turned out that the rubber boat had departed from the Libyan city of Zuwara the day before. According to aid workers, about 65 people were crammed into the small inflatable boat that set out from the Libyan coast toward the Italian island of Lampedusa.
However, just a few hours after departure, the boat began rapidly taking on water. People tried to bail it out, but waves up to 1.5 meters high constantly crashed over the vessel. Many passengers were sitting knee-deep in water. Among them were several women, including three pregnant ones, children, and a seven-month-old baby.
By the time rescuers arrived, the boat was already overloaded and half-submerged.
“While we were evacuating the people one by one from the rubber boat onto the NADIR, I suddenly heard screams and someone pointed to the water inside the boat. It became clear that there were bodies underneath the surface,” said RESQSHIP communications coordinator Barbara Sartore.
According to her, due to the darkness and panic, it was difficult to immediately see that three girls aged 9, 11, and 17, who had been sitting deep inside, had already drowned inside the vessel.
Their mother and younger brother survived. Witnesses said the woman held the bodies of her daughters until rescuers reached her. The medical team attempted to resuscitate the girls but was unsuccessful.
The family of the deceased was given time and privacy to say goodbye to the children.
On Saturday afternoon, the Italian Coast Guard evacuated 14 people with medical needs along with their relatives to the island of Lampedusa. The people had suffered severe chemical burns caused by a mixture of seawater and spilled fuel and required urgent treatment.
That same evening, NADIR arrived there as well with the remaining survivors and the bodies of the deceased.
“What happened to the three sisters is unimaginable, as is the danger that people on the move face in search of safety. Our thoughts are with their relatives, who are bearing this preventable loss and pain. Safe escape routes are urgently needed to finally put an end to the dying in the Mediterranean,” said NADIR crew member Katja Schnitzer.
A major tragedy recently occurred in Afghanistan - a bus carrying people deported from Iran crashed and caught fire. Several dozen passengers were killed.
