Gentian and his wife left the 18 October neighborhood of the small town of Lushnja with big dreams in 2002 to touch the promised land through the American lottery.
There they would start everything over again, creating their own family, which is no longer complete. Later, Gentian’s parents would also arrive in the US.
Foreign media have published the first moments of the tragedy, where the grandparents of the children who lost their lives, Njazi and Alia, appear desperate and in tears.
Gentian’s two sisters who live in Lushnje have managed to secure visas and travel across the Atlantic this morning to be with their brother in these moments of mourning.
Affected by this disaster, neighbors of the Manati family in Lushnja expressed their shock to Report TV.
“There is no greater misfortune in life than raising three children with sacrifice,” says a neighbor.
Another relative recounts the moment he received the bitter news and shares details of how the young couple had moved from Albania to pursue the American dream.
“We were shocked when we found out,” said another.
The funeral expenses and medical services that the 3 injured are receiving have been taken care of by the Albanians themselves, who have contributed over 200 thousand dollars through a GoFundMe, opened by a cousin of the Manati family. The bodies of the three minors will be laid to rest in the USA, where they were born.