His name was Aylan... Syrian boy is symbol of refugee tragedy
The image of the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach has reverberated across the world.
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS DISTURBING IMAGES
JOHANNESBURG - Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi fled Syria with his father Abdullah, mother Riyana and four-year-old brother Galip to seek a better life in Greece.
The only member of his family to survive that journey was his father, who has described how his children "slipped through my hands" when the boat they were travelling in capsized off the Turkish coast on 2 September.
The image of Aylan's tiny body washed up on a Turkish beach has since become a symbol of the unfolding human tragedy in the Mediterranean, where at least 2,600 people have already died this year as 350,000 have crossed the sea to flee war at home.
The body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi off the shores in Bodrum, southern Turkey, on 2 September 2015 Picture: Nilufer Demir/Dogan News Agency/AFP.
As the haunting photo resounds across the world in traditional and social media, many hope this will be the turning point in mobilising the powers that be to give the refugee crisis the attention it deserves.
The front pages of some of Britain's daily newspapers showing an image of the body of Syrian three-year-old boy Aylan are pictured in London, on September 3, 2015. Picture: AFP
My comment in @Telegraph pic.twitter.com/xNvk8pxFxR
- Christian Adams (@Adamstoon1) September 3, 2015
Editorial cartoonist @PatChappatte looks at the EU's reaction to images of drowned Syrian boy http://t.co/2u5C1LAVmg pic.twitter.com/EdYflHU4e9
- The New York Times (@nytimes) September 3, 2015
#InPics: World artists pay tribute to #syrianchild who drowned off Turkey | See more at: http://t.co/tevYTyGexA pic.twitter.com/2qWKN5acWP
- Azzam Daaboul (@AzzamDaaboul) September 3, 2015
Hell is the reality we living in..
#KiyiyaVuranInsanlik pic.twitter.com/73wblRdkd8
- Khaled Yeslam | خالد (@kyeslam) September 3, 2015
A Syrian Child founded dead on Turkey beach.. http://t.co/Hmyqmze0vq #syria #child #turkey pic.twitter.com/JEMCEdcqHx
- Waad Ben Kheder (@wa3dbk) September 3, 2015
An image of Abdullah Kurdi, and his sons Aylan and Galip, sent to me by a family friend. Heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/5s7RuY41ZT
- Hussein Kesvani (@HKesvani) September 3, 2015