Three sisters drowned in a migrant boat in the Mediterranean, say rescuers

Three young sisters drowned in a rubber boat carrying migrants in the Central Mediterranean after waves up to 1.5 m (4.9 feet) were repeatedly washed over the vessel, said a German rescue charity.

About 65 people were rescued, including the mother and brother of the sisters, as well as three pregnant women and a seven -month -old baby, Resqship added.

“The dangerously overcrowded” rubber boat had departed from the city of Zuaura to Libya and “began to absorb an increasingly amount of water” a few hours later, the charity said.

Libya is a major migrant pad that make the insidious journey through the Mediterranean, hoping to reach the Italian island of Lamidusa.

The three sisters who drowned were nine, 11 and 17 years old, according to a Resqship statement.

Recalling how their bodies were discovered At the beginning on Saturday, Barbara Sartore, the charity coordinator of communications aboard the rescue ship Nadir, said that while the survivors were evacuated one by one, she heard “screams and someone pointed the water inside the boat.”

“It became clear that there were bodies beneath the surface,” said Da Sartore.

“The boat was dangerously overcrowded, it was dark, the water was flooded, the people panicked. In this chaos it was impossible to see that the three sisters sitting deep in the boat had already drowned. When the survivors realized that it was a pure horror,” she added.

Resqship said many survivors suffered severe chemical burns caused by the seawater and gasoline mixture inside the boat and need medical treatment.

A person who fell overboard earlier was still missing, the charity added.

The Italian Coast Guard evacuated 14 people on Saturday afternoon and took them to the lamp, while the rescue ship arrived later with the other survivors and the bodies of the three girls.

“What happened to the three sisters is unthinkable, as well as the danger of people in search of safety,” says Katya Schnicer, a member of the rescue boat crew.

The charity did not give nationalities to girls or survivors.

UN agencies say more than 700 people have died, trying to cross the Central Mediterranean from North Africa this year.

They say that search and rescue operations must increase, and the safety of survivors guaranteed when descended.