ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two Yazidi children, including a six-year-old boy from Shingal (Sinjar), are feared drowned after an inflatable boat carrying 13 migrants deflated and sank in the Meric River along the Turkey-Greece border on November 3, leaving their families devastated and searching for answers.
The children disappeared around 4 am local time, minutes after the migrants boarded the dinghy in an attempt to cross into Greece. The strong current swept them away as the boat began to sink.
One of the missing children was identified as six-year-old Hayman Hashim Barakat from Sinune, north of Shingal, according to his mother, Faryal Khidir. The second child was from Boza village in the Alqosh area, near Duhok. His identity has not yet been established.
“The dinghy went down and my husband was holding Hayman's hand, and then I saw them taken away by the current,” Faryal told a Yazidi activist and Yazidi media outlets, recounting the terrifying moments when her son disappeared.
Her husband managed to survive, but Hayman and the other child were swept away.
The family alerted Turkish border authorities, who dispatched emergency personnel to the scene.
“The police came immediately after the incident and my husband wanted to go and search for Hayman, but the police said the divers would come in two hours and search for him,” Faryal said.
According to the mother, the search failed to locate her son.
“All I want is for Hayman to come back to me. I don't know where he is,” she said through tears.
The family says they have since been deported back to Shingal, where they remain uncertain about what happened to their child and whether the search will continue.
Turkish authorities launch search
Turkish authorities confirmed on November 3 that two Iraqi children, both around six years old, had disappeared after a migrant boat capsized in the Merir River near the NATO Bridge in the Bosnakoy area of Edirne province.
According to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, the parents managed to reach the riverbank and sought assistance from border guards, telling them that the children had disappeared in the water.
Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) subsequently deployed search-and-rescue teams.
The privately owned Ihlas News Agency (IHA) reported that AFAD personnel searched the river by boat while Turkish gendarmerie units searched the riverbanks.
The initial Turkish reports confirmed the disappearance of two Iraqi children but did not identify them or establish how many people were aboard the vessel. The account that 13 migrants were travelling together comes from the family.
A source at Turkey’s crisis center told Rudaw English on Tuesday that search and rescue operations were ongoing to locate the two children.
Second tragedy in three weeks
The incident occurred less than three weeks after three Kurdish siblings from Sulaimani drowned in the same river while attempting to reach Greece with their parents.
On October 14, Hastyar, 12, Haryad, 9, and Mela, 5, were swept away when an overcrowded inflatable boat carrying eight migrants capsized shortly after entering the Meric River.
Their father, Harem Mohammed, told Rudaw English at the time that smugglers had threatened him after he objected to boarding the overcrowded vessel.
“We boarded the dinghy again and we had lots of luggage. We entered the water and the currents swept the dinghy, smashing it against a tree trunk, and capsized,” Mohammed recalled.
“I managed to rescue my wife; but the three children, God took them back like angels,” he said.
Two of the children's bodies were subsequently recovered, but the remains of 12-year-old Hastyar had not been found as of October 27.
On November 3, the same day Hayman and the second Yazidi child disappeared, security forces in Erbil announced the arrest of a suspected human smuggler allegedly involved in the deaths of the three siblings.
The Meric River, also known as the Evros in Greece and Maritsa in Bulgaria, forms part of the border between Turkey and Greece. It has become a dangerous crossing point for migrants seeking to reach Europe, with strong currents, submerged obstacles and overcrowded boats posing significant risks.
For Faryal, now back in Shingal without her son, the uncertainty remains unbearable.
“All I want is for Hayman to come back to me,” she said.
