DURRES, Dec. 21 – December’s chilly temperatures have claimed the life of a one-month-old baby girl in the port city of Durres, as she and her homeless teenage mother were sleeping under a bridge near Durres Beach’s Dajlani Overpass over the weekend.
The 18-year-old mother, a member of Albania’s marginalized Roma community, had lived under the bridge for two week.
She told authorities she had nowhere to go after being kicked out of her husband’s home. The woman’s daily routine before tragedy struck involved begging in the streets throughout the day and lighting fires at night to keep herself and her baby warm.
After realizing her baby was motionless in the early hours of Saturday, the woman called for help and the baby was immediately rushed to the local hospital, but efforts to bring the child back to life proved fruitless as the infant had already succumbed to hypothermia, authorities said.
Meanwhile, the police have launched an investigation into the case.
There was swift reaction by Albanian Ombudsman Igli Totozani who expressed his indignation on this tragic event by considering it as “completely unacceptable” and one which should never repeat again in the future.
Totozani called on local authorities to implement his recommendations for finding shelter for the poor and homeless people so that such human tragedies are avoided in the future.
“We call on local officials as well as all citizens to show compassion and solidarity with disabled, poor and homeless persons so that such intolerable human tragedies are avoided,” the ombudsman’s statement added.
