Drowned boy’s father denies being boat captain

The father of a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach is denying allegations that he was the captain of the vessel that capsized killing at least 12 people, including his family.

An Iraqi couple who lost two of their three children in the tragedy have alleged that after the accident, Abdullah Kurdi begged them not to tell Turkish police that he was operating the boat.

Zainab Abbas and Ahmad Hadi shared their story with reporters at Baghdad’s airport, where they arrived this week carrying the small coffins of their dead children, ages 10 and 11.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the family had travelled to the Turkish coastal city of Bodrum from Iraq hoping to find smugglers who could take them into Europe.

They told the newspaper they almost changed their minds about the voyage when they looked at the 4.5-metre rubber boat, but a smuggler reassured them the vessel was safe.

The smuggler also introduced them to Kurdi, described to them as the boat’s captain.

Kurdi’s wife and children would also be aboard, the smuggler told them.

Only minutes after departing the coast, the boat began to take on water, the couple told the newspaper. One of Kurdi’s sons started to cry, distracting his father just before the boat smashed into a wave, they said.

Kurdi lost his two sons — Alan, 3, and five-yearold Ghalib — and his wife Rehanna in the tragedy. He told the Wall Street Journal the boat had a Turkish captain who jumped into the water and abandoned the vessel shortly after the engine stalled.

Kurdi’s brother-in-law, who lives in Coquitlam with Kurdi’s sister, Tima, called the Iraqi family’s claims “simply untrue and made up.”

“My wife spoke to Abdullah earlier this morning and can’t understand why anyone would make up such a story,” Rocco Logozzo told the Canadian Press in an email.

The photo of a drowned Alan put a heartbreaking human face to the crisis, and had a huge impact throughout the world.