The group, Germany’s CompassCollective, had rescued the lone drifter at night after they heard her screams from the middle of the seas, as reported by Reuters.
They were on their way to another emergency when they picked up her cry for help.
They found the young girl floating on a pair of tyre tubes, with a life jacket on, after they had moved to investigate the noise.
The crewmen noted that she was the only survivor from a shipwreck off Italy’s Lampedusa Island.
The little Sierra Leonean girl explained to them that she had left Sfax, Tunisia, on a metal boat with 45 people, which sunk during a storm.
She was then taken to the Italian city of Lampedusa, which happens to be the first destination for migrants due to its proximity to North Africa.
The Red Cross has since noted that the little girl was sent to a holding center for migrants, where she is being taken care of by the Italian Red Cross and volunteers.
“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,” said Nicola Dell’Arciprete, head of U.N. children’s agency UNICEF in Italy.
“Yet another tragedy that increases the number of dead and missing in the Central Mediterranean,” Nicola added.
The dangerous journey between Africa and Italy
Every year, thousands of African migrants make the treacherous voyage over the Mediterranean Sea, driven by aspirations of a better life in Europe.
Italy, with its proximity to North Africa, is one of the key entry points into Europe for these migrants.
However, this voyage, which is frequently performed in overcrowded and dangerous vessels, exposes them to tremendous hazards while also highlighting complicated socioeconomic and political challenges.
The Mediterranean migration route between Tunisia, Libya, Italy, and Malta is one of the most perilous in the world, with over 24,300 people missing or killed since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration.
NGO Mediterranea said in a statement that it believed another three migrant boats went missing on the route between Tunisia and Italy in recent weeks, and asked authorities to initiate a search operation to rescue any lives.
“Lives in danger at sea cannot be abandoned,” said Mediterranea’s Luca Casarini.
Italy maintains that the decrease in boat migration is a result of its stringent immigration policies, as seen in the Reuters report.
Approximately 64,000 migrant arrivals have been reported thus far this year, compared to almost 153,000 at the same time frame in 2023.
