THREE sisters have tragically drowned after a “dangerously overcrowded” migrant boat heading to Italy overturned.
The bodies of the sisters, aged 9, 11 and 17, were found inside the boat after rescuers rushed to save the migrants coming from Libya.
AFPMigrants on board a smuggler’s boat sail past a boat ofthe French Maritime Gendarmerie in an attempt to cross the English Channel (stock picture)[/caption]
Migrant charity RESQSHIP said the boat was “dangerously overcrowded” and had been buffeted by waves up to 5ft 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, the charity added in a statement.
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.
The Nadir arrived later in the day with the remaining survivors and the bodies of the three girls.
Meanwhile, Spain’s holiday islands have hit breaking point with near-daily arrivals of small-boat migrants, officials say.
Locals on Majorca, Ibiza, and Tenerife among others are at their “wits’ end” and have begun rebelling, according to island governments.
Migrants, mainly from Africa, have been washing up on the Balearics and the Canary Islands virtually every day – with 4,700 arriving on Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera this summer.
Just days ago, dozens of migrants landed at an Algarve beach – but were immediately detained and ordered to return.
A wooden boat, carrying 38 people including seven children, arrived on Friday evening near the town of Vila do Bispo, Portuguese authorities said.
Footage showed the migrants walking out of the boat and getting on the beach.
Beachgoers as well as locals watched in surprise as the dehydrated and hungry migrants reached the shore.
However, they were quickly rounded up by cops near Burgau, a part of the Algarve coast popular with tourists.
It comes as small boat crossings in the UK have surged past 50,000 – one illegal migrant every 11 minutes – under Labour.
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