A woman is searching for information about her elder brother who left Libya for Europe by boat more than 12 years ago – because she wants to know if he is dead or alive.
“I feel like he is alive. I see him in my dreams very often. He is wearing dirty clothes and he tells me, ‘I am alive’,” said Mahla Abdulrahman Bashir, a Sudanese woman now living in Ireland.
Mahla is clinging on to hope. But all she really wants is an answer after getting conflicting reports back in 2008 when her brother – Faroog Abdulrahman Bashir – left Libya in the hopes of reaching Italy.
“It was September 2008. My brother had been living in Libya for many years. He would send us money back in Sudan. He had not told me he was getting on a boat to Italy. He told one of my sisters. Then, one day, my sister called me and told me she heard the boat had made it safely to Malta. Soon after, my other sister called and told me she was told the boat had sank,” Mahla said.
The year that Faroog went missing was a peak year for migrant arrivals in Europe, according to the UNHCR.
Every time I see people crossing over on a boat in the news my heart is broken
Some 54,000 people reached Greece, Italy and Malta. The majority of the 2,776 people to come to Malta that year were rescued by the Armed Forces. However, every year, hundreds of migrants also die at sea, trying to reach Europe.
Since then she has been questioning what really happened. Some weeks ago, she reached out to Lillian Chetcuti Riolo, a Maltese-Australian woman who helps people find missing loved ones.
“Knowing what happened is very important to me and my other siblings. Our parents died and we know they are gone.
“But we don’t know what happened to our brother. Every time I see people crossing over on a boat in the news my heart is broken,” she says.
Chetcuti Riolo, meanwhile, has made it her mission to help Mahla find the answers she is looking for. She has posted Mahla’s story on her Facebook page and written to the authorities.
“I feel for those people who are looking for their loved ones… Like this lady. She has no idea what happened to her brother who took a trip that he did not realise could cost his life. Who are we to judge?
“We need to not be negative in life and try to help those in need,” she said as she urged anyone with information to come forward.
Questions were sent to the Home Affairs Ministry asking if they have any records of Faroog.
No replies were received by the time of writing.