Only survivor of ship disaster: Eleven-year-old drifts alone at sea for days!

Lampedusa (Italy) - A girl, just eleven years old, is said to have been adrift at sea completely alone for days! An aid organization from Germany has now rescued the eleven-year-old from drowning off the Italian island of Lampedusa .

The hypothermic girl (11) was rescued from the sea and treated on board the "TROTAMAR III".
The hypothermic girl (11) was rescued from the sea and treated on board the "TROTAMAR III".  © Instagram/compasscollective_boatspotting

According to the organization"Compass Collective", sea rescuers discovered the girl from Sierra Leone "only by chance" at around 3.20 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday night. The crew of the sailing boat "TROTAMAR III" heard her calls in the darkness and initiated a rescue maneuver.

The eleven-year-old was treated on board for hypothermia but was responsive and then handed over to a rescue service in Lampedusa. She told the crew what she had been through.

Three days ago, her metal boat, which had set off from Sfax (Tunisia), had sunk. She was probably the only one of the 45 people on board to survive the prolonged storm on the high seas.

Since then, she has been floating in the water with two improvised lifebuoys made of air-filled tire tubes and a life jacket - without drinking or eating!

The eleven-year-old kept her head above water with these air-filled inner tubes.
The eleven-year-old kept her head above water with these air-filled inner tubes.  © CompassCollective

A hopeless search for more survivors

The girl was handed over to a rescue service on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The girl was handed over to a rescue service on the Italian island of Lampedusa.  © Instagram/compasscollective_boatspotting

The girl stated that she had had contact with two other people in the water two days ago. However, this had broken off.

"Of course we searched for other survivors. But after the days-long storm with over 23 knots and 2.5-meter-high waves, it was hopeless," says skipper Matthias Wiedenlübbert about the unbelievable case.

The "TROTAMAR III" is a German sailing ship that, according to the organization, has been supporting civilian sea rescue in the Mediterranean since August 2023. Since then, the 13-metre-long boat with changing crews of activists has assisted a total of 1653 people in distress at sea. The organization and the sailing boat come from Wendland in Lower Saxony.

Time and again, people try to reach Italy, for example, by boat across the Mediterranean. Again and again, ships capsize, and again and again there are fatalities.