16 years after Bleona Mata's disappearance, her mother believes she is alive

News

Express newspaper

09/03/2026 23:57

One of Albania's greatest mysteries in the first 25 years of the 21st century, the disappearance of 6-year-old Bleona Mata on May 22, 2010 in her village.

After 16 years, her mother, Bukurie Mata, recalled in an interview with journalist Blendi Fevziu the last moments before her daughter disappeared without a trace.

According to her, the incident occurred at around 17:40 p.m. on the afternoon of May 22, when Bleona was playing with her peers near a shop in the village. She says that Bleona's uncle's daughter, Qamilja, took her with her on the pretext of going to the mountains.

"May 22, Saturday, I remember it by the hour. It was 5:40 in the afternoon, when the girl was playing with her friends in front of the store. Qamilja had organized to take a hook and that 'hook' became the cause of Bleona's disappearance," recalls Bukurie Mata with tearful eyes.

According to the mother's testimony, Qamilja, who was 17 years old at the time, was a relative of the family (the daughter of Bleona's uncle) and took Bleona, along with five other older girls, to climb the mountain without her knowledge.

Bukurie Mata says that the girls, after returning from the mountain, claimed they had been eating lunch, even though it was actually afternoon.

According to her, they had climbed about 20 minutes higher up the mountain together with the little girl.

She also remembers the moment when her family began to realize that something was wrong. It was Bleona's aunt who called to ask if her niece had returned home.

They immediately began searching.

"There were 800 of us in the mountain, the whole village. Women, men, children... everyone," recalls Bleona's mother, but they only called the police after 23:00 p.m., when they themselves could not find the little one.

However, despite the search, Bleona was never found. Her mother says that after 16 years she has not given up on the search for her daughter, and her fear is that the girl may have been taken out of the country.

According to her, the Kalimash Tunnel was also inaugurated on the same day, which may have facilitated movement towards the border.