The unfortunate Pakistani agricultural laborer who lost his life yesterday morning when his tractor fell off a 100 meter cliff in the countryside of the Cirotano hinterland was only 31 years old and had three small children. In the small town of Pallagorio, halfway between the Sila and the Ionian coast, the group of Pakistani citizens involved in the accident had arrived no more than ten days ago; the three had come this far following the hairpin bends of the provincial roads, apparently to make up for the lack of laborers to be employed in the olive harvest. The young Pakistani who died, together with his wounded compatriot and the uninjured one, had found a house to rent in the small village of less than 800 people, and they intended to stay here for some time: between one job and another in the countryside.
In the Albanian-speaking village, obviously, their presence, however silent and discreet, was noticed; however, they had already made themselves accepted and well-liked; people say that “young Pakistanis are kind, polite and hard-working people”; and that’s enough in these parts to weave relationships of friendship and civil coexistence.
The news of the fatal accident yesterday shook the Pallagorese community: they were initially deeply saddened by the loss of their fellow villager: Francesco Lamazza; the country speaks of the pensioner by describing him as “an upright worker”: at the age of 78, in fact, he continued to work in the countryside and drive his tractor.
«He couldn’t have done without life in the open air – confides someone in Pallagorio – he had worked for many years in Germany asphalting the roads and now for nothing in the world would he have given up work in the fields, surrounded by nature and olive trees». In fact, after retirement he retired to his small village of origin with Arbëreshë language and culture to dedicate himself to the land he loved so much; in these days he was busy harvesting olives and then he would think about sowing them following the seasonal cycle of crops. Lamazza, three children, leaves his wife Giuseppina, whom he married for the second time, with whom he had his son Angelo, after the divorce from his first wife, who had given him his two eldest children.