Father of dead boys: 'All I want is to be with my children'

ANKARA, Turkey -- He is one among many. But the plight of one boy, washed up like a piece of debris on a Turkish beach, has focused the world's attention on a wave of war-and-deprivation-fueled migration unmatched since World War II.

Aylan Kurdi, 3, was found on a Turkish beach after the small rubber boat he and his family were in capsized in a desperate voyage from Turkey to Greece.

Aylan died along with 5-year-old brother Galip and his mother, Rehan, leaving their distraught father, Abdullah, to cope with his sudden, overwhelming loss. He said Thursday he wanted one thing only: to sit by the graves of his wife and children.

"My kids were the most beautiful children in the world, wonderful. They wake me up every morning to play with them. They are all gone now," he said.

A Canadian legislator said the family, fleeing the conflict in Syria, had been turned down in a bid for legal entry to Canada, even though it had close relatives there offering financial backing and shelter, but Canada's Department of Citizenship and Immigration denied that assertion.

"There was no record of an application received for Mr. Abdullah Kurdi and his family," the department said in a statement, indicating a bid for another member of the family, Mohammad Kurdi, had been returned as incomplete.

Describing the tragedy, Abdullah Kurdi said the overloaded boat flipped over moments after the captain, described as a Turkish man, panicked and abandoned the vessel, leaving Abdullah as the de facto commander of a small boat overmatched by high seas.

"I took over and started steering. The waves were so high, and the boat flipped. I took my wife and my kids in my arms, and I realized they were all dead," he said.

In a police statement later leaked to the Turkish news agency Dogan, Abdullah Kurdi gave a different account, denying a smuggler was aboard. Smugglers often instruct migrants if caught, they should deny their presence, however.

The distraught father, who worked as a barber in Syria, added: "All I want is to be with my children at the moment."