An eight-year-old’s terrifying journey from Mali to Europe – all by himself – shows the growing desperation of the migrant crisis. Oumar ventured across the scorching Sahara desert and even spent time in a notorious Libyan prison before finally making it to European shores. He also was forced into slave labour during the horrifying ordeal.
The gruelling journey started in Oumar’s tiny village near Tambaga in the west of Mali.
A deadly jihadist attack in his hometown split the eight-year-old from his family and forced the young child to flee on foot.
When he eventually arrived in Libya, a criminal gang forced him to work as a welder and a painter.
Following a dramatic escape, he tried to make the journey to Europe on a rubber dinghy boat.
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However, Oumar was captured by the Libyan coast guard and thrown into the brutal Ain Zara jail in Tripoli.
He was smuggled out of prison in a rubbish bin and made a second daring attempt to cross the Mediterranean.
The eight-year-old joined 24 other children and more than 60 adults on a desperately dangerous sea voyage to Europe.
Eventually, an NGO rescue boat Ocean Viking spotted the dinghy and took the boat’s crew to Italy for safety.
Angela Nocioni, an Italian journalist who was on board the lifeboat at the time, told The Telegraph that Oumar was suffering from dehydration, hunger and hypothermia.
He said: “He is an incredible child. When he told me his story, I did everything I could to confirm all the details. Every survivor on the dinghy told me, ‘It’s true, he is all alone’.”
Medical staff found that Oumar’s body was littered with scars and a broken bone in his heel that needed a cast.
Oumar was eventually taken to the northeastern Italian seaport town of Ancona, where officials are now looking for a place at a local school.
This comes as more than 500 migrants are believed to have crossed the English Channel on Wednesday – the highest number in one day so far this year.
It marks the highest daily figure since December 2 and also breaks the previous highest number of crossings this year, when 401 people crossed the Channel on March 4.
The total number of arrivals by small boats this year now stands at a provisional total of 4,043, 10 percent higher than the same point in 2023.
