The sub-Saharan baby is called Ismaele and is about 3 months old. He was saved last night after yet another sinking of a small boat in the Sar area.
The little one, visited and monitored by a pediatrician, is doing quite well.
There is no more news of the mother: she is among the three missing migrants after the seven-metre boat capsized and sank.
Forty-six, including 13 women and 7 minors, were shipwrecked rescued by the Coast Guard soldiers.
To take care of little Ismaele, dedicating attention and affection to him, even the policemen who are on duty at the Lampedusa hotspot who are trying to reconstruct and deepen the origins of what, in fact, is yet another destroyed family.
Meanwhile, the search for the missing, by the Coast Guard and the yellow flames, continues.
In recent days there had been 4 small boats that, within less than 10 hours, had
capsized: 2 bodies that were immediately recovered and 17 missing.
On Wednesday 26, the Coast Guard recovered the bodies of two women off the coast of the Pelagie, believed to be victims of the shipwrecks two days earlier.
They took turns, throughout the night, holding little Ismaele in their arms, first at the Favarolo pier, then in the corridors of the Poliambulatorio.
The child who lost his mother in the last sinking of a small boat and who is about 6 months old has been pampered and filled with affection by the policemen who are on duty at the Lampedusa hotspot.
Agents and officials who are used to managing the phenomenon of immigration with attention and speed, during the night in front of those big eyes full of tears were moved and immediately mobilized.
The deputy commissioner added Francesco Sammartino, an official on duty at the Agrigento police station at the Imbriacola district hotspot, bought milk, diapers, a couple of toys for babies and a cream for the gums.
Because Ishmael, throughout the night, cried and was
greatly annoyed not because he saw unknown faces around him but because he is teething and in severe pain.
The men of the Agrigento police station took care of trying to distract him, playing with him and showing him all the affection the Italian police are capable of.
"The story of the child who lost his mother in last night's shipwreck in the waters in front of Lampedusa is moving. I sincerely thank the police officers of the Agrigento Police Headquarters, led by the commissioner Emanuele Ricifari, in service at the island's hotspot who they
cared for and took care of the little orphan throughout the night. Their gesture full of profound humanity, despite the criticality of the moment which sees a succession of landings on the island, is extremely commendable. Sicily is also this ".
This was stated by the president of the Sicilian Region, Renato Schifani.
Meanwhile, investigations and checks are underway among the 46 migrants rescued after last night's shipwreck in the Sar area, to understand if there is an
adult family member of little Ishmael among them.
The father could be at the Lampedusa hotspot, but there are currently no certainties.
To mobilize, to try to find - if there are - the family members of the child of about 6 months who lost his mother, are the policemen on duty at the hotspot in the Imbriacola district.
The prosecutor's office for minors at the Palermo court has also been informed.
The social services of the Municipality of Lampedusa were contacted by the Save the Children contact person who operates in Lampedusa and also takes care of unaccompanied minors.
Eventually the child will be placed in a suitable structure.
But in these hours, after Ishmael's story is making the rounds of the news, there are many availabilities that are arriving.
And among these, the immediate one was from a
woman, a doctor on duty in the Lampedusa emergency room, who said she was ready to take him into foster care.
Last night, a 7-metre punt sank in the Italian Sar area.
Forty-six migrants, including seven minors and 13 women, were rescued by soldiers of the CP319 patrol boat of the Coast Guard.
However, there would also be three missing, including the mother of a newborn.
Offshore searches are underway.
The castaways, originally from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gambia, were landed just before half past midnight at the Favarolo pier in Lampedusa.
They reported that they left Sfax, Tunisia, at 9 pm last Friday and paid 2,000 dinars for the crossing.
There were 299 migrants, rescued while they were on board 6 different boats, who landed (including the 46 shipwrecked) during the night and until dawn in Lampedusa where yesterday there were 12 landings with a total of 611 people.
On the punts docked during the night were groups of 48 (3 women and 2 minors), 46 (13 women and 7 minors), 42 (10 women and 8 minors), 45 (6 women and 2 minors), 36 (9 women and 3 minors) and 82 (8 women).
The first 5 boats left from Sfax in Tunisia, while the last one from Sabratah in Libya.
All were taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district where at dawn there were 2,242 guests compared to just under 400 places available.
Structure that remains overcrowded despite the last two days, with line ferries, ships and military aircraft,
And there are 257 (and not 320 as estimated this morning) the migrants who have been embarked on the Galaxy line ferry which is en route to Porto Empedocle.
At the moment, 1,985 guests remain at the Lampedusa hotspot compared to just under 400 places available.
