“He crossed the Mediterranean before he even learned to walk.
Alone, he braved the waves, probably without even realizing how dangerous it was.
The daily La Repubblica tells his story like that of a modern day Moses.
A dramatic story that saw an unaccompanied toddler barely a year old - sent by his parents to attempt the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean alone - arrive safe and sound on the island of Lampedusa, several Italian media reported on Saturday.
The infant was spotted by rescuers in the midst of some 70 men on a boat that docked on the Sicilian island on Friday. The youngest of the more than 500 castaways who arrived with seven different landings in the last two days in Lampedusa is too small to reveal his name and history. This desperate gesture reveals once again to the eyes of the world the suffering condition of those who try to escape from the African shores for the European promised land.
The other migrants were unaware of the child's identity, but his parents allegedly pleaded with them to keep him safe during the crossing, possibly because they had not been able to board with him, according to the benchmark Italian daily.
Other recent migrants also include a 14-year-old boy whose mother died during a rescue attempt off the island.
"She was on a boat with 25 other people, including her own son who saw her drowning," Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Twitter.
Last night a woman lost her life during a rescue off Lampedusa island.
She was traveling on a boat with 25 other people, including her son who saw her drown.
Another preventable loss on Europe's doorstep, another life claimed by irresponsible migration policies.
- MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) December 17, 2021
"A new loss that could have been avoided at the gates of Europe, a new life cut short by irresponsible migration policies," said MSF.
Almost eight thousand foreign children have arrived alone by sea since the start of the year, according to La Stampa.
1,340 people have died since the start of the year attempting the crossing
These two stories echo the even more tragic fate of the young 6-month-old Youssef, who shocked the small Mediterranean island and the Italian peninsula just over a year ago. This little boy died after yet another shipwreck off the Libyan coast in November last year, in which five other people, two women and three men, died. The little lifeless body of the toddler had been brought back to the island with his new mother and another pregnant woman. The child, rescued with other survivors by the NGO Open Arms, died according to the Spanish NGO because of "delays in the intervention of the European authorities". A parish priest from the island then took the floor to denounce this new drama of the sea.
The departures of migrants wishing to reach Europe via the Mediterranean, from Libya or Tunisia, are up sharply compared to previous years.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 1,340 people have died attempting the dangerous crossing of the central Mediterranean since the start of the year.
Most often in indifference.