Following a shipwreck in late July off the Italian island of Lampedusa, a young Sudanese man is hoping to track down his two brothers. His father, mother and three-year-old daughter lost their lives during the journey.
From his bed at the plastic surgery unit of the polyclinic in Palermo, Sicily, 23-year-old Haisman is seeking help to track down his two brothers.
Haisman explains that they had all left Sudan in search of a better and safer life. But those dreams were quashed when he lost his father, mother, and three-year-old daughter at sea during the journey. To make matters worse, his wife had died earlier in their migration in Libya.
Serious injuries
On July 25, Haisman arrived at the emergency room of the university hospital with injuries to his hand and eyebrow. He had been taken there on a rescue helicopter.
Hospitalized at the Paolo Giaccone Department of Surgery, he was treated by an expert team of doctors under the direction of Professor Adriana Cordova, who stressed that Haisman's case was "very serious."
"We operated on Haisman for a lesion of the flexor tendons of his left hand, and treated an injury of his brow and a scar on his neck that had been created prior to the most recent trauma," she told the ANSA news agency.
She added, however, that the hospital remained worried about Haisman: "The patient is desperate, and we believe that he is at risk of fleeing or suicide," she said.
"I have written to the Red Cross and the police station to do whatever is possible to help him reconnect with his younger brothers. Haisman is being assisted by our psychologists, and today we have requested a psychiatric consultation as well."
'Human tragedy of migrants'
Doctors have repeatedly had to try to stop Haisman from attempting to flee. The young survivor is adamant to find his brothers, Asil, 13, and Haidar, 16. The two are the only family he has left.
"This case encapsulates the human tragedy of migrants," said the commissioner of the polyclinic, Maurizio Montalbano.
"The Palermo polyclinic is involved not only in assisting patients but also in the needed psychological and psychiatric support to help them get past this heartbreaking experience that may condition his entire life. We are requesting the support of all institutions to ensure that he can rejoin his brothers, the only survivors of his family," he added.