Migrant Crisis: Toddler Found Drowned on Turkey Beach Identified

Images embedded in this article are graphic. 

The toddler whose lifeless body on a beach in Turkey sent shock waves around the world has a name: Aylan Kurdi, NBC News reported. 

Images were published Wednesday of a boy found face-down on the beach in the Turkish resort of Bodrum. The pictures were splashed on international front pages on Thursday and shared on social media — drawing more attention to the desperate and deadly refugee struggle to reach Europe. 

Turkish media and Canada's National Post identified the victim as 3-year-old Aylan — a Syrian. He died along with his 5-year-old brother Ghalib and mother Rehan while their father survived, according to the Post. The newspaper spoke to the boy's aunt — Teema Kurdi, a Vancouver hairdresser — who confirmed the tragedy.

Canadian lawmaker Fin Donnelly had been working with the dead boys' aunt to appeal to the country's immigration minister to help the family gain entry, according to the Post. 

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Reuters/DHA
A Turkish gendarmerie carries a young migrant, who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos, in the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, September 2, 2015.
DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE!! -- MIGRANTS/TURKEY
Reuters/DHA
A young migrant, who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos, lies on the shore in the Turkish coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, September 2, 2015.
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