Three young sisters drowned when the rubber boat carrying them and dozens of other migrants got into difficulties on the perilous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy, a German sea rescue charity RESQSHIP said on Sunday.
The Non-Governmental Organisation said the bodies of the sisters, aged 9, 11 and 17, were found inside the boat, which was "dangerously overcrowded" and had been buffeted by waves of up to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) before a rescue vessel arrived at the scene.
Among the 65 people rescued by the charity's Nadir vessel were three pregnant women, children, and a seven-month-old baby. One person fell overboard earlier in the crossing and remains missing, RESQSHIP added in a statement.
It did not give details about the nationality of the three dead girls.
The Nadir intercepted the rubber boat, which had departed from Zuwara in Libya overnight on Friday, after being alerted by the hotline rescue operator Alarm Phone, the charity said.
Italy's coastguard evacuated 14 people - medical cases and their relatives - on Saturday afternoon and took them to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, where the Nadir arrived later in the day with the remaining survivors and the bodies of the three girls.
As of January 2025, 126,000 migrants have passed through Lampedusa since 2023 according to the Italian Red Cross who manage the reception centre set up to deal with the huge influx of people arriving on the small island.
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An explosion and fire erupted after a fuel-laden freight train derailed at Kochyetovka station in Michurinsk, Russia, on Tuesday (4 February), halting rail traffic and triggering a major emergency response, authorities said.
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Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío has denied that Havana and Washington have entered formal negotiations, countering recent assertions by U.S. President Donald Trump, while saying the island is open to dialogue under certain conditions.
Talks with the U.S. should be pursued to secure national interests as long as "threats and unreasonable expectations" are avoided, President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X on Tuesday (3 February).
Mexico said it will stop sending oil to Cuba as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the Caribbean nation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Tuesday (3 February) of exploiting a U.S.-backed energy ceasefire to stockpile weapons and launch large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine ahead of peace talks.
Paris prosecutors have summoned X chairman Elon Musk and former chief executive Linda Yaccarino for questioning in April as part of their probe into the X social media network, they said on Tuesday.
The United States and Argentina have signed a framework agreement to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals on Thursday (4 February), reaffirming a shared commitment to building secure, resilient and competitive supply chains.
An explosion and fire erupted after a fuel-laden freight train derailed at Kochyetovka station in Michurinsk, Russia, on Tuesday (4 February), halting rail traffic and triggering a major emergency response, authorities said.
Ukrainian and Russian officials wrapped up a "productive" first day of new U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi, Kyiv's lead negotiator said on Wednesday (4 February).
Nearly 200 people were killed when armed men launched coordinated attacks on remote villages in western and northern Nigeria, authorities and residents said on Wednesday (4 February). Officials described the assaults as among the deadliest this year, amid the country’s worsening security crisis.
Russia said on Wednesday that the parties to the New START nuclear arms control treaty are no longer bound by its obligations or related declarations, marking a further erosion of the last remaining legally binding framework limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear forces.
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