LAMPEDUSA, Sicily — A doctor on a tiny island off Sicily is hoping a 9-month-old Nigerian girl, who lost her mom at sea, will change opinions regarding migrants.
Dr. Pietro Bartolo cared for the baby girl, named Favour, last Thursday in the first hours after she and other migrants were rescued from a smugglers’ boat. Authorities say the girl’s pregnant mother suffered burns on the boat and died at sea.
Bartolo told the AP on Saturday that ”thousands of requests” to adopt the girl have come in. Nothing is apparently known about her father. The child will first be placed in foster care.
The doctor says the child “seemed like an adult with her pains and adversities.”
Bartolo was featured in the award-winning Gianfranco Rosi film “Fire at Sea” about Lampedusa’s people who have welcomed rescued migrants for years.
– The Associated Press
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