An overcrowded rubber dighy ran into bad weather crossing the Mediterranean Sea, a German NGO reported on Sunday, resulting in the deaths of three sisters who had escaped war-torn Sudan. 

Volunteers from the organization RESQSHIP found the bodies of the three, aged 9, 11, and 17 years old. They were part of a group of 65 refugees who left Libya on Friday night in the battered vessel, hoping to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Their mother and brother were amongst those rescued, the group said.

"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 meter (4.9 feet) waves, and the boat had been taking on water for hours."

"I heard a woman screaming and a man pointing into the water," Satore said, adding that weather conditions made the rescue extremely dangerous. "The medical team attempted resuscitation but they had been underwater for an extended period of time."

Satore said that their mother remained on the boat in shock, refusing to leave her daughters' side.

EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard accused of trafficking, torture

The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 30,000 people have died while trying to reach Italy from North Africa since the group began keeping track in 2014.

Migrants often undergo inhumane treatment at the hands of people smugglers in Libya, who demand exorbitant sums and promise an easy crossing to Europe. These migrants typically come from other parts of Africa, where they faced difficult conditions such as conflict or violence. 

The migrants are frequently taken to Europe on unseaworthy, crowded boats, putting their lives at risk. 

The United Nations has accused the Libyan Coast Guard, which is partially funded by the European Union and ostensibly supposed to control the flow of refugees at sea, of complicity in human trafficking, torture, and enslavement.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery