At least three migrants, including two young children, have died during a perilous sea crossing from Libya to Italy, according to a German rescue charity.
RESQSHIP said it rescued 59 others on Saturday from a rubber boat adrift south of the Italian island of Lampedusa. The boat had been spotted by a surveillance aircraft operated by the EU border agency Frontex.
“When we reached the boat at around 4:30 pm local time, some people had already died,” the charity said in a statement. A RESQSHIP medic reported receiving the bodies of two children, aged three and four, believed to have died from dehydration the previous day.
Many survivors, the organisation said, were suffering from burns caused by a mixture of saltwater and fuel. Two children and four critically ill adults were handed over to the Italian coastguard for urgent medical care.
The rubber dinghy had reportedly departed from the Libyan port of Zawiya on Wednesday. Its engine failed within 24 hours, leaving the passengers at the mercy of the sea for days.
