A little boy, head in the sand, red T-shirt, arms next to his body: The image of the dead refugee boy Alan Kurdi went around the world. In September 2015, his body was washed up at a Turkish stall. His father has now baptized a German rescue ship in the name of his son. The ceremony took place on Sunday in the port of Palma de Mallorca, according to the organization Sea-Eye, which owns the now renamed former research vessel "Professor Albrecht Penck".
"We are happy that a German rescue ship will bear the name of our boy and my boy on the beach must never be forgotten," said his father Abdullah Kurdi in advance. "Our grief for the loss of my wife and sons is shared by many thousands of families who have so tragically lost sons and daughters."
DPA
Abdullah Kurdi in front of the rescue ship
Kurdi paid Schlepper to bring him and his family from Turkey to Greece. Previously, the Turkish authorities had denied the family exit visas for Canada, where Tima Kurdi lives, her father's sister. The Dinghy of the Kurdi family sank at rough sea. The disaster also killed Alan's brother Ghalib and his mother Rehanna.
"With the name 'Alan Kurdi' we want to remind you, what is really going on and should go alone (...): It is about people who drown daily in the Mediterranean and the endless pain of their relatives," said Gorden Isler, spokesman for Sea-Eye.
The baptism of the river was attended by representatives of the Balearic Government and the Muslim community. The Bishop of Mallorca, Sebastián Taltavull Anglada, blessed the "Alan Kurdi". The ship is under its old name since the end of 2018 for the organization founded in 2015 in use.
Sea-Eye claims to have saved more than 14,000 boat people from drowning in the Mediterranean in about 60 rescue operations since 2016. Like other refugee workers, the German organization has to contend with an increasingly restrictive refugee policy of EU countries.