A ten-year-old diabetic girl escaping war in Syria boarded a wooden vessel with her father, who has a degree in economics, and her sisters, headed for the Italian coast. They were 320 people squashed together like sardines. The traffickers made more room by throwing the little girl's day pack into the sea. It contained vials of insulin for her during the crossing. Without the insulin, the girl went into a diabetic coma and there was nothing that could be done. Her father, a 48-year-old Syrian man, standing above his daughter's corpse, made a telephone call to his Imam so he could give her the last goodbye, saying a prayer over the phone. Then they had to abandon her body to the sea, taken away by the currents of the Canal of Sicily, while the boat continued on its way toward the coast of Syracuse, Sicily. A few days later, the man broke down in tears and told this story to the deputy commissioner of Syracuse, Carlo Parini. The traffickers were Egyptians. The boat left from Egypt after its passengers had waited a week to embark. In the strait of Sicily the wooden boat was sighted by a passing merchant ship, but when it was already to late to save the little girl., already dead and abandoned in the waters of the Mediterranean. The family was hoping to get to Germany, before this tragedy.
From the 17 July 2015 edition of La Repubblica. Click on picture caption to see original article.
From the 17 July 2015 edition of La Repubblica. Click on picture caption to see original article.