They found her floating wearing a simple life jacket clinging to an inner tube. A little over 11 year old girl from Sierra Leone is the only survivor of a shipwreck in the central Mediterranean where 45 people are missing.
The German sailing ship rescued her Trotamar III of the German NGO Compass Collective. It was around 3.20am on Wednesday 11 December when the volunteers and operators heard the screams at sea and managed to rescue the little girl.
«It was an incredible coincidence that we heard his voice even though the engine was running. And of course, we were still looking for other people. But after a storm that lasted days, with more than 23 knots and 2.5 meter high waves, there was no hope. He was fighting not to drown», declared skipper Matthias Wiedenlübbert of the sailing ship Trotamar III.
According to initial information, the little girl left Sfax in Tunisia four days ago, On board the iron boat where he was traveling was also his older brother who appears to be missing.
The young woman was immediately transferred to Italian coast guard patrol boats which took her to Lampedusa. It is now located in the Contrada Imbriacola hotspot assisted by the team of professionals from the Italian Red Cross.
«The journey to our coasts for a boat leaving from Tunisia (Sfax) was unfortunately interrupted in the heart of the Mediterranean. From the first reconstructions, there were about forty people on board. Only a little girl originally from Sierra Leone, after spending about two days in the water, managed to complete the journey she had started with some family members. After treatment at the island’s clinic, the little girl was welcomed to the Contrada Imbriacola hotspot where, for a few minutes, she has been followed by our multidisciplinary team», explained Rosario Valastro, President of the Italian Red Cross.
«Today’s news is sad, coming just a few days before International Migrants Day and, above all, the Christmas holidays. The CRI operators and volunteers working in the center of Lampedusa are giving comfort to this little girl and are supporting her with all their humanity in facing this difficult moment”, concluded the President of the Italian Red Cross.
The Don Bosco 2000 Association has been involved in integration and reception projects in Sicily for years and says it is ready to welcome and if necessary even adopt the little girl: «We express our deepest solidarity with all the victims of this tragedy and their families. Every life lost in the Mediterranean is a wound that affects us alla drama that reminds us of the need for urgent change. We can no longer allow the Mediterranean to continue to be a cemetery”, says Agostino Sella, president of Don Bosco 2000.
Over 300 migrants have landed on Lampedusa in the last few hours. And while the searches by the Italian coast guard continue in the area of the shipwreck, the Mediterranea Saving Humans network reports that there would have been other shipwrecks according to what was gathered by Alarm Phone which had reported two boats in danger with 45 and 75 people of whom all trace has been lost.
