Father of drowned Syrian toddlers prepares to take bodies home

[Octafish]

Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year old Aylan Kurdi, cries as he leaves a morgue in Mugla, Turkey, September 3, 2015.

Father of drowned Syrian toddlers prepares to take bodies home

REUTERS/MURAD SEZER
Sept. 3, 2015

The distraught father of two Syrian toddlers who drowned with their mother and several other migrants as they tried to reach Greece identified their bodies on Thursday and prepared to take them back to their home town of Kobani.

Abdullah Kurdi collapsed in tears after emerging from a morgue in the city of Mugla near Bodrum, where the body of his three-year old son Aylan washed up on Wednesday.

A photograph of the boy's tiny body in a bright red t-shirt and shorts, face-down in the surf, appeared in newspapers around the world, prompting sympathy and outrage at the perceived inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.

Aylan's 5-year-old brother Galip and mother Rehan, 35, were among 12 people, including other children, who died after two boats capsized while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

"The things that happened to us here, in the country where we took refuge to escape war in our homeland, we want the whole world to see this," Abdullah told reporters.

"We want the world’s attention on us, so that they can prevent the same from happening to others. Let this be the last," he said.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/03/us-europe-migrants-turkey-idUSKCN0R30Q820150903