Three Sudanese sisters die in overcrowded migrant boat in the Mediterranean

Three young sisters have died after an overcrowded boat took in water in bad weather while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, a German nonprofit organisation reported on Sunday.

The sisters from Sudan, who were 9, 11 and 17 years old, are the latest known victims of a Mediterranean migration route that has claimed more than 30,000 lives since the International Organization for Migration (IOM) started counting in 2014.

Rescuers found their bodies after evacuating some 65 people from the unseaworthy boat in international waters north of Libya on the night of Friday to Saturday. A fourth person was reported missing at sea.

Their mother and brother were among survivors who were brought to shore on the Italian island of Lampedusa late on Saturday, rescuers said.

Boat 'took in water for hours'

The boat had departed Zuwara in Western Libya earlier Friday.

“The boat was really overcrowded and partially deflated,” Barbara Satore, one of the rescuers, told The Associated Press. “It was a really pitch dark night with 1.5 metre (4.9 feet) waves, and the boat had been taking on water for hours.”

Satore said they found it after an alert from the Alarm Phone network, which receives calls from migrant boats in distress.