Little did he know what the fate has planned for him when the three-year-old Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi took a boat from Turkey with his family to reach the Greek island. The last photo of the boy before he took his last journey has gone viral. Aylan can be seen peacefully taking a nap at a beach in Turkey.
Toddler's drowning sparks surge of donations across Europe
Charities helping refugees saw a surge in donations Friday across Europe as people shocked by the heart-rending images of a drowned Syrian boy on a Turkish beach dug deep to help out.
As the International Olympic Committee launched an emergency two-million-euro ($2.2 million) fund, money flooded into the coffers of organisations working to help refugees fleeing Iraq and Syria and groups cancelled weekend events to donate the cash instead.
The photos of the lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, lying on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, have triggered a wave of emotion across the continent, despite deep divisions among European governments on how to deal with the crisis.
Turkish policeman who found Aylan says: 'I thought of my own son'
A Turkish police officer who was pictured picking up the lifeless body of three-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi -- whose death pricked the world's conscience -- said he thought of his own son when he saw the toddler on the beach.
Speaking to Turkey's Dogan news agency, Mehmet Ciplak recounted how he prayed the little boy was still alive as he walked towards him and scooped him up from the water's edge.
"When I approached the baby, I said to myself, 'Dear God I hope he's alive.' But he showed no signs of life. I was crushed," he said.
"I have a six-year-old son. The moment I saw the baby, I thought about my own son and put myself into his father's place. Words cannot describe what a sad and tragic sight it was."
Ciplak added he didn't know the photo, which reverberated across the world, was being taken and said: "I was just doing my job."
&uuid=(email))