The ocean is no joke, and it's drowned more than one man who thought he was strong and resilient. That makes it all the more remarkable that this preteen survived. One 11-year-old girl survived a shipwreck and three days adrift at sea thanks to her wits and some quick thinking.
She fashioned herself a life jacket to stay afloat at sea. She was adrift for three days, according to rescue group CompassCollective in a press release. Rescue crews believe that the 11-year-old was on a ship caught in a severe storm on the Meditterranean Sea. It had departed from Sfax, Tunisia before being destroyed off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Initially, rescue crews believe all the passengers had died after 11.5 foot waves sank the vessel. But the 11-year-old girl managed to survive. Ironically, CompassCollective was out performing a different rescue operation. That's when they heard the girl's shouts for help.
11-Year-Old Survives Shipwreck
"It was an incredible coincidence that we heard the child's voice despite the engine running," skipper Matthias Wiedenlübbert said in the press release. The 11-year-old drifted for three days in the water. She had fashioned life rings using air-filled inner tubes and a life jacket.
Disturbingly, the 11-year-old confirmed two other passengers survived the sinking of the ship. However, she became separated from them in the water. Despite being adrift for days, she was alert and oriented. Unfortunately, they were unable to find any other survivors from the shipwreck.
CompassCollective's Katja Tempel says that the ship was full of migrants trying to make the journey to Europe.
"Even in storms, people are forced to use risky escape routes across the Mediterranean. We need safe passages for refugees and an open Europe that welcomes people and gives them easy access to the asylum system. Drowning in the Mediterranean is not an option," Tempel said.
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," Nicola Dell'Arciprete, head of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF in Italy, said. "Yet another tragedy that increases the number of dead and missing in the Central Mediterranean."
