A migrant who nearly died crossing the Mediterranean Sea twice to get to Europe has won a fortune on the lottery with his first-ever ticket.
Ibrahim Kante, from The Gambia, first made the perilous journey from Libya to Italy on a rickety boat in 2017.
He said he was one of only six survivors of the frail vessel, which had been packed with 120 migrants.
But even when he managed to reach Italy and spend six months in the country, he was caught by the authorities and deported back to Africa.
Undeterred, he risked his life again and boarded another rickety boat “in which 120 people were also travelling and all but 16 ended up dying”, he told local media.
This time he managed to stay in Italy for six months before leaving for France. But authorities there caught him and sent him back to Italy.
However, he re-entered France and, from there, made his way to Olot, Spain, where he lives today.
He has spent most of his time in Olot working illegally as an undocumented migrant.
However, he recently got his papers and now works legally as a forklift truck driver at a cooked pork products company.
He also got married two years ago.
Ibrahim decided to play the Christmas lottery for the first time after seeing a queue to buy tickets on 20th December.
He did not really know what it was or how it worked, but he decided to take a punt on a ticket ending in his wife’s lucky number – four – for EUR 20 (GBP 18).
He was astonished when he scooped the second prize – worth EUR 125,000 (GBP 110,000) – in the draw two days later.
He told local media he will now go back to The Gambia to use some of his winnings to help his family.
With the remainder, he said, “I am a musician, so I am going to buy instruments and machines to make myself a studio”.
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Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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