Three sisters drowned, dozens rescued during crossing to Italy

• Three sisters from Sudan drowned in a capsized boat.
• During the rescue, 65 people were saved, including pregnant women.
• The boat was carrying migrants from Libya and encountered dangerous conditions during the journey.

Three young sisters drowned while their human trafficker was transporting them and dozens of other migrants, who found themselves in dangerous conditions during the crossing in the central part of the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy, reported the German charity organization for rescue at sea RESQSHIP on Sunday.

The sisters, aged 9, 11, and 17 years, were found dead on the boat, which was "dangerously capsized" and submerged under waves up to 1.5 meters high. After a signal from the operators of the rescue service Alarm Phone, the rescue boat Nadir arrived at the scene.

Along with the sisters on board were 65 people, among whom were three pregnant women and a seven-month-old child. One of the passengers fell overboard earlier during the crossing and is currently considered missing.

The Italian coast guard evacuated 14 people with medical problems and their relatives on Saturday from the southern island of Lampedusa. The Nadir arrived earlier that day, bringing the remains of rescued individuals and the bodies of three girls.

This tragedy is part of a larger problem, as since 2014 more than 30,000 people have drowned on the migratory route across the Mediterranean Sea. Organizations engaged in rescue operations are closing down their activities due to the hostile conditions for rescuing people in dangerous situations at sea.