The migrant story that shook the world

He’s maybe a year old, maybe a little older. Lying face down, his head to one side with his bottom slightly up — the way very young children like to sleep.
But the water is lapping around his face and his body is lifeless.
The boy, in a red T-shirt, blue pants and tiny shoes with Velcro straps, was one of 12 people who drowned off Turkey and washed up on a beach Wednesday.
The body of a drowned baby washes up on Turkish beach 01:00
A photo of him lying alone and being approached by an official has been shared widely around the world, often with the Twitter hashtag #KıyıyaVuranİnsanlık or “Flotsam of Humanity” in Turkish.
Some said they hoped the images of the boy lying on the beach and his limp body being scooped up by a rescue worker could be a turning point in the debate over how to handle the surge of people heading toward Europe.
Nadim Houry, Human Rights Watch deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, described the pictures as “haunting.”

“Biggest indictment of collective failure,” he wrote.
“Shame on the world!” Burhan Akman tweeted from Turkey, adding in another post, “I see human but no humanity.”
The boy and his family were Kurds from Syria trying to reach family in Vancouver, British Columbia, CNN partner CTV reported.
Three members of one family died: The boy, Aylan Kurdi, 3; his brother, Galip, and their mother, Rehen, according to Fin Donnelly, a Canadian member of parliament.
Turkish rescue teams were able to save some people aboard the boats, the governor’s office said. Two men and a child who were traveling in the group are missing.

Read also: Spanish Police find migrant hidden in car engine

More than 2,600 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe this year alone — making the area the most deadly migrant crossing point in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration, which warned last month that the number of deaths was soaring.
Nearly three quarters of the world’s total number of migrant deaths this year have occurred in the Mediterranean, according to the IOM. And the number of deaths in the region so far this year (2,643) is nearly 20% higher than last year (2,223).
Some have drowned. Others have been crushed in stampedes. And some have been asphyxiated by boat engine fumes.
“In the last few weeks we have seen many deaths,” Federico Soda, IOM’s director for the Mediterranean region, said last week. “We think that this may be explained by the fact that the smugglers are becoming increasingly violent and cruel.”

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