Yasmine, an 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone, is the only survivor of a shipwreck of a barge loaded with migrants in the Central Mediterranean. The minor was rescued early Wednesday morning by a German NGO after spending hours drifting in the water, wearing a life jacket and clinging to an improvised float made from the inner tube of a tire. The girl was transferred to the Italian island of Lampedusa. But rescuers from the humanitarian organization Compass Collective believe that the precarious boat that sank, an old iron fishing boat, was carrying another 45 people, who remain missing.
The sailboat crew Trotamar IIIbelonging to the German NGO, was searching for a boat in trouble when he heard the girl’s cries for help, who, in the middle of the darkness of the pitch black night, began to scream when she saw the lights of the rescue boat, about ten nautical miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The sailors who rescued her have explained that the little girl was in a state of shock and hypothermia, she was barely standing and had no water or food, but she was conscious. They reached her in an inflatable boat and then transferred her to the NGO’s sailboat, where they covered her with a thermal blanket and warmed her with water bags, as stated in a statement. “It was a miracle to hear his voice on the high seas and with the boat’s engine running,” said the boat’s skipper, Matthias Wiedenlübbert. And he added: “We knew that there was a small boat in trouble when suddenly one of our men heard screams and cries coming from the sea. It seemed impossible, but we immediately stopped to understand what was happening. We tried to look for other castaways, but there were none. “After a day of storms, with winds of 23 knots and waves 2.5 meters high, it was almost impossible.”
After taking the girl on board, the sailboat headed to Lampedusa, where it arrived on Wednesday. The minor was treated at the island’s outpatient clinic and there she told in French, according to local media, that she was traveling with her older brother, who disappeared in the shipwreck, and that they had left the Tunisian coast of Sfax three or four days ago. in a boat that could not withstand the storm and capsized. “He said he had been in the water for three days near other people who then disappeared among the waves,” the rescuers told the media.
The Italian Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation to clarify how the events occurred and to contrast the girl’s version. The doctor Fabrizio D’Arca, who treated her, explained that “in general her condition seems good” and noted that doctors believe she remained in the water for about 12 hours. Researchers have commented that in extreme conditions anyone can easily lose track of time; much more, a minor.
The little girl’s father had placed his children on the boat, presumably to keep them safe, but he remains in Tunisia. The doctors lent Yasmine a phone so she could contact him.
A volunteer from Mediterranea Saving Humans, Francesca Saccomandi, who cared for the little girl, explained to the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera that Yasmine was “calm” when she saw her. “I expected to find her much more scared, but she was just very tired. I left him a small kit that we give to minors who arrive on the island: a cloth backpack with a coloring book and paints inside. “He thanked me,” he said.
Very dangerous crossings in winter
The journeys faced by migrants trying to reach Europe through the Mediterranean are dangerous and even more so during the winter period, with adverse weather conditions, since the boats in which they travel often do not meet the necessary technical conditions and They are usually overloaded.
The NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, which among other tasks, provides help to migrants in Lampedusa, has explained that, due to the storm of recent days, it fears that there have been three more shipwrecks on the route between Tunisia and Lampedusa. The organization has indicated in a statement that on December 2, the NGO Alarm Phone reported the disappearance of two boats with 45 and 75 people on board, and another on December 4 with another 45 people. “We need safe channels for refugees and an open Europe that welcomes people and makes it easier for them to access the asylum system. Drowning is not an option,” said Katja Tempel, a member of Compass Collective.
So far this year, 64,000 migrants have arrived in Italy through the Mediterranean, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior, half less than the previous year. Among them there are nearly 8,000 unaccompanied minors. According to the International Organization for Migration, this year more than 3,000 people have lost their lives at sea trying to reach European coasts.
