Turkish coast guard saves Syrian child as mother dies

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Turkish Coast Guard rescued an unidentified child after a boat’s drown.

The child was traveling with his family to the Mytilene Greek Island and was taken to a Turkish hospital.

Amer Abu Taim, an activist who works as a driver in Izmir and helps Syrians refugees and orphans, told Zaman al-Wasl that the officers found the child after the ship sank at 3 a.m on Sunday. The child was wearing a lifejacket so he survived and was transferred to a hospital in Izmir.

He confirmed that the child was the only survivor of the boat as his mother died while his father's fate is still uncertain.

The Syrian war has displaced more than 5 million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan

The source added that the five-year-old child was in a difficult and unconscious state until the doctors revived him with oxygen and managed to recover his consciousness.

He pointed out that the child survived for two days crying and asking for his parents. The child's picture was posted on social networking pages for the purpose of identifying him, but to no avail.

He said that the child is with him, until he may identified by a relative.

Amer explained that more than 240 people between a woman and a man suggested to adopt the child, but the adoption acquire many conditions in the Turkish law, hoping to find the father of the child or a member of his family.

The Turkish coast guard had recovered the body of a boy named Mohammed Samer Kenou (8 years old) on Sunday morning after drowning another boat was carrying with dozens before reaching the territorial waters.

According to activists, the boat collapsed in the withdrew, which led to the collision of migrants, including the child Mohammed Samer, causing his suffocation and death to not be treated quickly enough.

The child’s family, his four brothers and the rest of the migrants went to Camp Dikli (Izmir) and called the father of the child to the hospital to take his body.

There were 45 immigrants on the boat: 10 Palestinian, 10 Syrians and 15Iraqi and 10 children.

The Turkish Coast Guard did not comment on the drowning events and did not mention them in his statements to this moment.

On Sunday, Turkish authorities seized 950 irregular migrants in the state of Adrne (northwestern Turkey) while trying to cross collectively and illegally into Greece. They were handed over to the Immigration Department in the region.

The Anadolu news agency reported that hundreds of immigrants had started arriving in the state since Thursday night after news that they would be allowed to cross, so police and gendarmerie raise their alert in the area.

Our source added that the security teams increased the number of checkpoints in the entrances to cities and villages, roads and train stations, and monitored the atmosphere of the region using drone.

Since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, more than 560,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.

Zaman Al Wasl