LAMPEDUSA, AG — An 11-year-old girl survived three days at sea after a ship wrecked off the coast of Italy in a storm. She is likely the only survivor out of the 45 people who were on board, according to a news release from the German charity organization Compass Collective.
In the release on Wednesday, Compass Collective, which owns the sailing boat Trotamar III, said its crew rescued the girl. The girl's boat had sunk three days ago off the Italian island of Lampedusa, which had begun their voyage from Sfax, Tunisia.
The 11-year-old girl, from Sierra Leone, spent three days in the water using two makeshift flotation rings made from inflated inner tubes and a basic life jacket.
According to Compass Collective, she told the crew that she had been in contact with two other passengers in the water two days ago, but had lost communication with them.
Officials said the storm lasted for several days in the central Mediterranean. According to the BBC, the boat is believed to have been caught in a storm with waves 11.5 feet high when it sank.
Compass Collective reported that the girl had not had any food or water and she was suffering from hypothermia.
Compass Collective's boat was already out at sea, but it was only by chance that the crew heard the girl's calls in the darkness at 3:20 a.m. Trotamar III's crew cared for the girl, and she was handed over to rescue service in Lampedusa at 6 a.m. for additional medical treatment.
"It was an incredible coincidence that we heard the child's voice despite the engine running. And of course we looked for other survivors. But after the storm that lasted for days with over 23 knots and 2.5 meter high waves, it was hopeless," Skipper Matthias Wiedenlübbert said in the release.
