Three sisters from Sudan drowned while trying to flee to Europe

• Three sisters drowned on a rubber boat while trying to flee to Europe.
• Rescuers discovered the bodies of the girls after the evacuation of 65 migrants.
• The mothers of the deceased and the younger brother survived and were taken to Lampedusa.

This was reported by RBC Ukraine, The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Three sisters from Sudan, aged 9, 11, and 17, drowned on a makeshift rubber boat while trying to flee to Europe. The incident occurred in the central part of the Mediterranean Sea during the night of September 22 to 23, 2025, when the rescue ship NADIR of the German organization RESQSHIP evacuated 65 migrants from a sinking boat.

The rubber boat departed from the city of Zuwara in Libya, but after a few hours began to fill with water due to waves reaching 1.5 meters high. As water began to fill the boat, it capsized with the passengers just as the rescuers arrived.

When the rescuers began the evacuation, among the passengers they discovered the bodies of three girls, who drowned. Their mother and younger brother survived and were taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa. Previously, for the rescue of the women and children who required thermal medical assistance, Italian rescuers evacuated 14 people.

This tragedy has become part of a larger problem of migration across the Mediterranean, where since 2014 over 30,000 people have drowned. Rescuers emphasize the necessity of safe routes for migrants in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Tags: Europe