Italy investigates case of 26 girls' bodies found at sea

Italian authorities have opened an investigation into the tragic deaths of 26 girls whose bodies were found floating in the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend.

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Authorities prepare coffins for bodies of sea victims waiting at an Italian port - Photo: CNN

According to CNN, these unfortunate girls, aged 14-18, are believed to be migrants from Niger and Nigeria who boarded a boat from Libya to Europe over the weekend.

Salerno police official Lorena Ciccotti said autopsies would be conducted on November 7 and investigators would learn whether the girls had been beaten or sexually abused.

The girls’ bodies were found in the water near a makeshift rubber boat. By the time rescuers arrived, everyone on board had fallen into the water.

Rescuers rescued several survivors who were clinging to the bodies of the girls that had floated nearby.

This was just one of four separate rescues in the Mediterranean over the weekend. About 400 people were taken aboard the Spanish ship Cantabria and taken to the Italian port city of Salermo. Among them were 90 women and 52 children, including a one-week-old baby.

According to TTO