The Turkish Coast Guard rescued an unidentified child when a boat sank. The child was attempting to travel with his family to the city of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos and was taken to a Turkish hospital in Izmir.
Amer Abou Taim, an activist who works as a driver in Izmir and helps Syrians refugees and orphans, told Zaman al-Wasl that the officers found the child after the ship sank at three o’clock on Sunday morning. The child was able to survive because he was wearing a lifejacket.
Taim confirmed that the child was the only survivor and that the boy’s mother had died, while the fate of his father is still uncertain.
The Syrian war has displaced more than five million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan
The source added that the five year-old child was unconscious until the doctors revived him with oxygen. He pointed out that the child cried out for his parents for two days. The child’s picture was posted on social networking pages in an attempt to try and identify him, but to no avail.
He said that the child will stay with him, until he can be identified by a relative. Taim explained that more than 240 people had asked to adopt the child, but that an adoption would require many conditions of Turkish law being met, adding that he is hoping to find the father of the child or another family member.
The Turkish coast guard recovered the body of an eight year old boy named Mohammed Samer Kenou on Sunday morning, after another boat, which was carrying dozens of people, sank before reaching territorial waters.
According to activists, the boat collapsed, causing a crush and led to the suffocation of the child.
The child’s family, his four brothers and the rest of the migrants went to Dikli Camp in Izmir and summoned the father of the child to the hospital to recover his body.
There were 45 immigrants on the boat: 10 Palestinian, 10 Syrians, 15 Iraqi and 10 children. The Turkish Coast Guard did not comment on the drownings and did not mention them in his statements.
On Sunday, Turkish authorities seized 950 irregular migrants in the state of Adrne, northwestern Turkey, as they tried to collectively cross into Greece. They were handed over to the Immigration Department in the region.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
