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The leader of Italy's 5-Star Movement says the country should grant citizenship to a 13-year-old Egyptian boy hailed as a hero for alerting police that he and his middle school classmates had been abducted by their bus driver.

Luigi Di Maio said Thursday that Ramy Shehata "put his life at risk to save that of his classmates," and that he would ask Italy's premier to confer citizenship for special merit.

The boy's father immigrated in 2001 and Ramy was born in Italy. He is credited with helping save his classmates by calling authorities on a phone that was missed when the driver collected their devices.

Law enforcement officers stopped the bus near Milan, and freed the 51 children and their chaperones before the driver set it on fire.