40 feared dead off Italy coast

11-year-old lone survivor rescued after a migrant boat capsizes off Italy, leaving 44 dead.

ROME:

More than 40 migrants are feared dead off Italy's Lampedusa after a lone 11-year-old survivor said the boat she was on capsized, a rescue group said Wednesday.

"We assume that she is the only survivor of the shipwreck and that the other 44 people drowned," said Compass Collective, which assists in migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

The group's Trotamar III vessel "heard the calls in the darkness" of the girl Wednesday morning at approximately 2:20 am (0120 GMT) while heading to another emergency.

"The 11-year-old girl, originally from Sierra Leone, had been floating in the water for three days with two improvised life jackets made from tire tubes filled with air and a simple life jacket," the group said in a statement.

Mauro Marino, a doctor who examined the survivor, told La Repubblica daily that he believed the girl had been in the sea for some 12 hours.

The girl told rescuers that the metal boat left from Sfax, Tunisia, but sank in a storm.

"The girl had no drinking water or food with her and was hypothermic, but reactive and oriented," Compass Collective said.