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I can’t stop looking for it. I just wish I could hold her one more time, hold her close to me, have a body to cry on. I only ask to say goodbye to my little girl. Ahmed Ben Daoud, 37, of Moroccan origin, cannot rest, he looks at his daughter’s photographs while, in the living room, a clean and tidy house on the outskirts of Sondrio, the voices of the two Hafsa brothers fill the room. They are still too young to understand the tragedy that befell their family: Hafsa, 15, was swallowed by the waters of the Adda. on September 1 while bathing in Bartesaghi Park, the green lung of the capital Valtellina.
I was trying to get to a little beach at the point where the Mallero stream flows into the river, she walked in the water with her cousin, she slipped, a wave washed her away. And since then her father has not stopped looking for her. Every day he reaches the river by bicycle, dives, defies eddies and currents, rummages among the rocks. Some passersby filmed it and posted the video on Facebook. A heartbreaking scene that shook hearts and consciences and has restarted the search for volunteers with more vigor than before. In the images he is seen swimming against the current, moving stones, moving with vigorous blows, someone calls him from the shore, he does not give up, he continues to be moved by the force of despair.
Maybe Hafsa got stranded somewhere, I hope to find it or at least be there when the river returns it. I can’t stay home and wait, he explains as he strokes his young wife Asma’s face. Many are close to him at this time, the agents of the Sondrio Police Headquarters have explained that he cannot spend his days on the shore, that the river is too dangerous for him, although he can swim well, that they will do everything possible to give back Hafsa. Social services have taken steps to try to understand how to offer support to the family.. And Ahmed decided to give himself a few hours of respite, while throughout the day yesterday dozens of Civil Protection volunteers probed the waters of the Adda.
For five days from that damn sunny afternoon When the girl disappeared before the eyes of her family, almost three hundred men, the Fire Department, the Treasury, the Red Cross, and the Alpine Rescue, continually searched for her. The Ardenno basin was also emptied, nothing was needed. Then the activities, thanks to the heavy rains, were remodeled, but never completely stopped. The Sondrio Prefecture has organized specific searches over the weekend and a meeting is scheduled for Monday to plan new interventions. I would just like to help – says the father -. I get closer to the river, I don’t always go into it, these days the level is lower than when the current took my little girl, sometimes I even stay on the shore. I’m afraid searches will soon be permanently suspended, but I’m not giving up. Ahmed does not rest, perhaps also because he was away in Morocco to visit his parents when the tragedy occurred. In Valtellina for ten years, he worked in a wood company, now unemployed, wife and two dependent children aged 2 and 5, the body of a daughter is found. And this is now your only priority. Hafsa was beautiful and sweet, she made herself loved. When I left, I asked her to take care of her little brothers, she nodded and smiled. It was the last time I saw her.
September 12, 2020 | 21:04
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