Pictured: Aylan Kurdi, 3, and Galip, 5, who died in Mediterranean migrant horror

Human cost: Aylan, three, and Galip, five, drowned in the Mediterranean after their parents risked everything to give them a better life

Posing for a family photograph, Aylan Kurdi and his older brother Galip smile for the camera.

But their short lives came to a tragic end which has shocked the world.

The bodies of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi and his brother, Galip, five, were washed up on a Turkish beach.

They had fled war-torn Syria and had tried to make a 13-mile crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Kos in a dinghy.

Their deaths, alongside their mother, Rehan, 35, today sparked urgent calls for action to tackle the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Europe. Their father Abdullah Kurdi, who survived, was forced to break the tragic news to relatives, saying: “My wife and two boys are dead.”

A proud father clutches the hands of his two young sons

The family had been desperately fleeing Kobane to escape Islamic State militants and had been hoping to emigrate to Canada.

Relatives said today Mr Kurdi's only wish now was to return to the war-torn city with the bodies of his wife and children and be buried alongside them.

His sister Teema Kurdi, who emigrated to Canada 20 years ago, said she learned of the tragedy after the father called relatives. “All he said was, ‘My wife and two boys are dead’,” she said. The brothers’ bodies, still wearing tiny T-shirts and shorts, washed up on Ali Hoca Point beach in Bodrum yesterday.

Tragedy: a police officer carries the body of Aylan Kurdi off a Turkish beach (Picture: AP)
Nilufer Demir/Dogan News Agency/AP

Ms Kurdi said the family had been in limbo after a privately sponsored refugee application was rejected by Canadian authorities because of the complexities involved in applications from Turkey. Like thousands of other Syrian Kurdish refugees in Turkey, the UN would not register them as refugees and the Turkish government would not grant them exit visas.

Ms Kurdi, from Vancouver, told the National Post: “I was trying to sponsor them and I have my friends and neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat. I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there.”

Canadian MP Fin Donnelly said he hand-delivered the Kurdis’ file to the citizenship and immigration authorities, but the application was rejected in June. He told the Ottawa Citizen: “This is horrific and heartbreaking news. The frustration of waiting and the inaction has been terrible.”

Canada and Turkey have reportedly been at loggerheads over Syrian refugees who want to go to Canada. The Turkish government refuses to issue exit visas to unregistered refugees not holding valid passports. Thousands of migrants have died this year trying to reach Europe by sea.

David Cameron face renewed pressure today to change the Government’s policy on refugees but Europe remained deeply split over tackling the crisis.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in