Francis and Mary, the love story of the immigrant who ended up in tragedy

Just a week ago, Francis Ipisbhe would kneel in the dust of the earth and look up from the sky praying aloud to find his wife Mary. Today he has a tomb to mourn for her loss.

His wife was one of hundreds of immigrants who lost their lives as they passed through Palermo, the chief center of Sicily.

Their whole attempt was to pass the methodane to reach Europe for a better life.

The crossing of the sea would take the lives of hundreds who were following the same course, including Mary.

Hundreds like her are still found in cemeteries throughout Italy, Greece and Turkey. While hundreds of family members are still searching for their bodies, as Francis asked his wife until about a week ago.

Ipisbhes' quality left Lagos, Nigeria, last year. They passed over Sahara and set out toward Tripoli and Italy. After several hours at sea, the ship began totter, and only a few managed to escape after the boat was sunk.

“She was hanging on my shoulders when I tried to connect with a rope in the bow of the ship,” said Francis about the “The Guardian” “After me, dozens of people were pushed to reach the first rescue ship. When I reached the rope, I no longer felt Mary's arms around my neck “, he showed tears of confession of horror. .

The crowd rose forward, and Maria é, who was 27 years old and four months pregnant, fell into the sea. Francis was immersed, but when he brought her back to the surface, she had stopped breathing.

“I tried, God knows how hard I tried to save”, he says. This is not the first case of the deaths of immigrants in the waters of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean in recent years. The number of immigrants who have died illegally crossing borders from East to Europe is thousands.