"We assume that she is the only survivor of the shipwreck and that the other 44 people drowned," Compass Collective, which assists in migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean, said.
The group's Trotamar III vessel "heard the calls in the darkness" of the girl at approximately 2.20am on Wednesday, 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 tyre tubes filled with air and a simple life jacket," the group said in a statement.
Mauro Marino, a doctor who examined her, told the Repubblica newspaper that he believed the girl was in the sea for some 12 hours.
The girl told rescuers that the metal boat departed from Sfax, Tunisia, but sank in a storm.
"The girl had no drinking water or food with her and was suffering from hypothermia, but was reactive and oriented," Compass Collective said.
A spokeswoman for Mediterranean Hope, another charity, told AFP the girl was recovering in hospital after her rescue.
Group representatives found the girl to be "very tired," spokeswoman Marta Bernardini said.
Italian news agency ANSA reported that coast guard and police boats were searching the area where the shipwreck was found.
"They have not yet found bodies nor traces of clothing," ANSA wrote.
NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans said on Wednesday it was concerned that at least three other shipwrecks may have occurred recently between Tunisia and Lampedusa.
The boats – carrying a total of 165 people – departed from Tunisia on different days at the end of November, as tracked by Alarm Phone, whose hotline accepts distress calls from migrants at sea.
"Alarm Phone immediately communicated all the information in its possession to the competent authorities in the area, namely the rescue centres of Tunisia, Malta and Italy, but no feedback was provided by them," Mediterranea said.
The group called for a "wide-ranging search operation to track down possible survivors".
2,050 migrants have died or gone missing so far this year while attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean – the world's deadliest migration route.
The International Organisation for Migration reports that many shipwrecks go unrecorded, as "boats in distress disappear with no survivors".
Since 2014, there have been more than 17,000 deaths and disappearances recorded by the group in the area.
Comments