11-year-old Sierra Leonian girl survives three days under wrecked ship

An 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone has been rescued by a group of crew members after three days at sea as the sole survivor of a shipwreck off Lampedusa island in Italy.

As gathered, members of the NGO Compass Collective crew were en route to another emergency when they heard shouting from the water and rescued the girl around 3 a.m.

The 11-year-old girl found in a life jacket while clinging to a pair of tire tubes was said to have set off alongside 45 passengers presumed to be dead from Sfax, Tunisia, before the boat mishap.

Confirming her rescue on Wednesday, the Compass Collective organization stated that the young survivor had been cared for by their crew before being transported to Lampedusa, an island closer to North Africa than the rest of Italy, often serving as a first landing point for migrants.

From there, she will be moved to a migrant holding center to receive further care from Red Cross staff and volunteers.

Reacting to the situation, the United Nations head of the children’s agency in Italy,  Nicola Dell’Arciprete expressed concern over the rising number of dead and missing individuals in the Central Mediterranean.

“In this festive period, in which the majority of us are lucky to be with our loved ones, my thoughts go out to the girl from Sierra Leone,” he said.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says 30,955 migrants have died – or remain missing – crossing the Mediterranean since it started recording figures 10 years ago.

The sea migration route between Tunisia, Libya, Italy and Malta is one of the most dangerous in the world, with more than 24,300 disappeared or dying since 2014.