Death of 3-year-old Kurdish refugee from Syria

A toddler in a red shirt and blue pants lies face down on the beach. The boy looks like three or four years old. Did the boy fall asleep to sweet lullaby of the sea while waiting for his mother who went out to dig out clams? But the boy never stands up when white waves wash up his dark hair and even his face.

An image of a boy, who reminds Koreans of a song "Island Baby," shocked the entire Europe because it was an image of the dead body of a young toddler who washed ashore on the Bodrum beach of Turkey. The picture taken by a Turkish rescue team has been spread rapidly with a hashtag "Flotsam of Humanity" through social media.

“The image of the Syria boy whose body washed up in Bodrum is haunting. Biggest indictment of collective failure,” said Nadim Houry, Human Rights Watch deputy director, on his Twitter account. A Turkish wrote, “I see human but no humanity. Shame on the world!” on twitter.

According to the Guardian, the boy is Aylan Kurdi, 3, from Kobani in the northern Syria. Kobani is a war-torn city where fierce battles continue between ISIS and Syrian Kurds. Kurdi’s family fleeing the war in their hometown and boarded a small boat to sail to the Greek island of Kos. But the boat sank off the shore of Bodrum. Two boats carrying 23 refugees including Kurdi’s family overturned during the voyage, taking lives of 12 including 5 kids. Kurdi’s brother Galip, 5, also lost his life.

The heartbreaking image of drowned Kurdi became a wake-up call to the conscience of Europe, which has handled refugees as a trouble. British daily The Independent lamented, “If these extraordinarily powerful images of a dead Syrian child washed up on a beach don`t change Europe`s attitude to refugees, what will?” The Huffington Post’s UK edition also carried an article under the title “Do Something, David,” aiming at British Prime Minister David Cameron. Spanish daily El Mundo dubbed the image of Kurdi, “The drowning of Europe.” Italian daily La Repubblica tweeted, “One photo to silence the world."

According to the International Organization for Migration, the number of refugees who crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe exceeded 350,000 by the end of August this year. The death toll of refugees drowned in failed attempts to reach Europe is around 2,643.