ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Yazidi mothers whose children disappeared after a migrant boat capsized in Turkey's Meric River on November 3 have recounted the tragedy to Rudaw, describing how their children were swept away by the current and accusing Turkish authorities of failing to provide answers.
Dunya Badal, the mother of six-and-a-half-year-old Vinos Milad Hashim from Boza village near Duhok, told Rudaw's Naif Ramadhan on Tuesday that smugglers were adamant that passengers board an inflatable boat that was too small for the group, insisting that everyone get on despite her warnings.
“I told the guide, the boat is small. I said they are going to put us in ‘double danger,’” she recalled. “But they kept saying, 'Come on, get in and go.'”
She said the boat had barely moved a few meters when the current carried them toward a tree branch, causing it to capsize. She also accused one of the guides of failing to steer properly and being distracted by his phone.
Badal said she managed to stay afloat because of the bags and sleeping bags she was carrying, but saw Vinos and her daughter, Vina, rapidly drifting away.
“I started screaming. I just wanted to reach Vinos,” she said. She tried to swim toward the children but was pulled underwater by the weight of her bag.
A guide managed to rescue Vina, while Dunya's nine-year-old son, Vinar, was also swept away. He eventually held onto a tree branch before losing consciousness and being carried downstream, but was later rescued.
“Vinar was also saved, thank God, but Vinos remained – we heard nothing about him,” she said.
Dunya said Turkish police took the surviving family members to safety and later returned them to the area. But she could not bear to remain there without knowing what had happened to her child.
Faryal Khidir, the mother of six-year-old Hayman Hashim Barakat from Sinune in Shingal (Sinjar), also told Rudaw's Adla Bakir on Sunday that the group had traveled through a forest for around three hours before reaching the river. She said the smugglers refused to divide the 13 people into smaller groups despite concerns that the inflatable boat could not accommodate everyone.
“When they inflated the dinghy and launched it into the water, we said, 'All of us cannot fit in this dinghy.'” Yet, “our smuggler insisted everyone must get in.”
Khidir said the boat capsized before reaching the Greek side, leaving the group on the Turkish side of the river. She and other family members informed police that their children were missing, provided photographs and passports, and asked authorities to continue searching.
“They said, 'We will look into it.'”
“Up to this moment, no one has done anything for us,” she said.
The two children, Hayman and Vinos, remain missing.
A recurring tragedy
The incidents highlight the dangers faced by Kurdish migrants, particularly families with young children, attempting to reach Europe through irregular routes.
It also comes less than three weeks after three Kurdish siblings from Sulaimani drowned while attempting the same crossing.
In mid-October, three Kurdish siblings, Hastyar, 12, Haryad, 9, and Mela, 5, drowned in the same river while attempting to reach Greece with their parents. Their dinghy capsized once, but smugglers insisted that the family board the boat, demanding their compliance despite objections by the parents that the crossing was dangerous.
The boat capsized again. This time, the children didn’t make it.
Two of the children's bodies were subsequently recovered, while Hastyar remained missing as of October 27.
