ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two fishermen who rescued an 18-month-old Syrian migrant baby visited the child and his mother on Saturday, days after they found him floating on the Aegean Sea, according to Turkish media reports.
Recep Evran and Cenap Gumran met with Muhammed Hasan and his mother, Lorin Halef, in the western province of Izmir, the DHA news agency reported.
Turkish media reports said the fishermen had rescued 15 other migrants, mostly women, including one who was pregnant.
The rescued family members were later taken to hospital and all are in good health, according to the media reports.
Hasan was rescued on Wednesday, when the fishermen spotted him floating in a lifejacket, after the boat carrying him and around a dozen others to a nearby Greek island sank, according to DHA.
Video footage captured by one of the fishermen at the Agean Sea waters, and made available online, showed the migrant family screaming and asking for help in Kurdish.
Lorin Khalaf, the mother of the rescued child, told Rudaw by phone on Sunday that she had left Syria for the sake of her children.
“They told us we will travel by a big boat but the smuggler lied to us and brought a small one for 30 refugees. That is why it didn’t work well inside the sea and we were thrown into the water. When we saw the fisherman, I had great hope and began asking for help,” Khalaf told Rudaw.
“The reason we decided to travel was for the sake of my children, who are sick, and we don’t have money for hospitals,” she explained, adding that she will never think of leaving the country again.
According to the latest data published by the International Organization of Migration (IOM), more than 180,000 migrants have arrived in Europe from Syria, with 33 percent of having entered Europe by sea.
The number of deaths on sea routes had reached 2,812 in September, according to the IOM.
Recep Evran and Cenap Gumran met with Muhammed Hasan and his mother, Lorin Halef, in the western province of Izmir, the DHA news agency reported.
Turkish media reports said the fishermen had rescued 15 other migrants, mostly women, including one who was pregnant.
The rescued family members were later taken to hospital and all are in good health, according to the media reports.
Hasan was rescued on Wednesday, when the fishermen spotted him floating in a lifejacket, after the boat carrying him and around a dozen others to a nearby Greek island sank, according to DHA.
Video footage captured by one of the fishermen at the Agean Sea waters, and made available online, showed the migrant family screaming and asking for help in Kurdish.
Lorin Khalaf, the mother of the rescued child, told Rudaw by phone on Sunday that she had left Syria for the sake of her children.
“They told us we will travel by a big boat but the smuggler lied to us and brought a small one for 30 refugees. That is why it didn’t work well inside the sea and we were thrown into the water. When we saw the fisherman, I had great hope and began asking for help,” Khalaf told Rudaw.
“The reason we decided to travel was for the sake of my children, who are sick, and we don’t have money for hospitals,” she explained, adding that she will never think of leaving the country again.
According to the latest data published by the International Organization of Migration (IOM), more than 180,000 migrants have arrived in Europe from Syria, with 33 percent of having entered Europe by sea.
The number of deaths on sea routes had reached 2,812 in September, according to the IOM.
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