“Her story is the tip of the iceberg but we are in contact daily with other situations that are no less tragic.”
Chiara Vitali Saturday 31 May 2025
The girl had been hospitalized for months at the civic hospital after suffering burns from an explosion during a crossing to Lampedusa. She had wandered in the desert after being kidnapped in her country
Landing operations during a rescue ship docking – Ansa Archive
When Amira (a fictitious name) arrived in Lampedusa three months ago, nothing was known about her. Not her name, age, or country of origin. Two things were certain: she was very young and her body was covered in serious burns.
The organizations that deal with reception took immediate action and allowed her to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Civic Hospital in Palermo. For three months, her recovery seemed possible until Wednesday, when her condition worsened significantly. Amira did not survive.
However, her story remains, which she herself had shared with the operators in recent weeks. Knowing her helps us get closer to events that are often summed up in one label: the “landed in Lampedusa”. And Amira’s was a true odyssey: kidnapped as a teenager, taken across the desert, victim of abuse in Libya and arrived in Italy in very serious conditions. Then the unexpected reunion with her mother, who remained by her side in these last days.
Angela Errore, from the Casa dei Diritti and Rup (sole manager of the procedure) of the three projects of the Sai – Integrated Reception System of Palermo, the municipal body that took care of Amira’s reception, tells the story. “The girl came from Eritrea and had been kidnapped together with a cousin. She remained in Libya for a year and a half and suffered the most serious violence. Then she was forcibly loaded onto a boat to Lampedusa together with other girls. During the journey on the boat, there was an explosion: she survived, four other women died. The sixteen-year-old had also already lost her cousin, who died in the desert.” So she hadn’t planned to come to Italy? “No. We don’t know who kidnapped her, she didn’t tell us. In these weeks we had to be very delicate with questions of this type, she was still recovering and her body was very fragile. Think that the first prognosis given by the doctors was only 24 hours.” But then Amira began to feel better and there were glimmers of hope.
The reception machine had also managed to activate a process that was not always easy: “Thanks to a telephone number that the girl had with her, we were able to contact an uncle who lives in London,” Errore continues, “who came to Italy and confirmed his identity. Through him, we reached the girl’s mother, who arrived in Palermo twenty days ago: she was able to stay with her daughter and say goodbye. Thanks to the attention of Amira’s guardian and the collaboration with various organizations, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Economic and Social Research Center for the South (Cresm), we were able to obtain a temporary residence permit for the woman and accommodation in a facility with other mothers and their children: they are the people closest to her in this moment of mourning.”
Since Amira’s arrival in Italy, closeness and solidarity have been constant: the reception network has been activated in all its components, from the Third Sector entities, to the Institutions, to the volunteers. This was also underlined by the Palermo councilor with responsibility for relations with migrant communities Fabrizio Ferrandelli: “I am close to the family in this immense pain and I thank all those who have participated in these months to ensure that all possible treatments were implemented. Integration and care of relationships with people who leave their own country is a civic duty”.
Amira’s story is certainly unique, but is it very different from those that those who work in the migration sector encounter every day? Errore answers again: “Her story is the tip of the iceberg but we are in contact daily with other situations that are no less tragic. When you survive torture and violence there are then many wounds to deal with. Another boy comes to mind who arrived in Italy in very critical conditions and then was able to have a transplant that saved his life. We also hoped for Amira’s recovery, but instead things went differently. For those who were close to her, the news was devastating.”
Martin Plaut 