Sicilian doc hopes baby who lost mom at sea inspires others

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Doctor Pietro Bartolo is pictured in his studio in Lampedusa first aid center, Saturday, May, 28, 2016. Bartolo wants to adopt an orphan baby who was rescued and treated by him last Thursday in Lampedusa. Favour, the 9-months baby, arrived on the tiny Sicilian island onboard an Italian Coast Guard ship, after being rescued at sea off Libyan coasts. Her mother, a Nigerian woman, died during the journey because she suffered burns believed to be caused by extended contact with fuel and sea water. (AP Photo/Annalisa Camilli)

LAMPEDUSA, Italy – A doctor on a tiny island off Sicily is hoping a 9-month-old Nigerian girl, who lost her mom at sea, will change opinions regarding migrants.

Dr. Pietro Bartolo cared for the baby girl, named Favour, last Thursday in the first hours after she and other migrants were rescued from a smugglers’ boat. Authorities say the girl’s pregnant mother suffered burns on the boat and died at sea.

Bartolo told the AP on Saturday that “thousands of requests” to adopt the girl have come in. Nothing is apparently known about her father. The child will first be placed in foster care.

The doctor says the child “seemed like an adult with her pains and adversities.”

Bartolo was featured in the award-winning Gianfranco Rosi film “Fire at Sea” about Lampedusa’s people who have welcomed rescued migrants for years.

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This story has been corrected to fix the first name of the filmmaker to Gianfranco instead of Francesco.

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