Anonymous Death Notice Mourns Drowned Aylan

'You did not deserve to drown'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2015 6:52 AM CDT
Anonymous Death Notice Mourns Drowned Aylan
This handout photo courtesy of Tima Kurdi shows a photo of Aylan Kurdi, left, and his brother Galib Kurdi.   (Photo courtesy of Tima Kurdi /The Canadian Press via AP)

Tucked in among the death notices and obituaries for locals in the Sydney Morning Herald today is a one posted anonymously for Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey. "You did not deserve to drown in the coldness of water and in the coldness of human indifference," reads the notice, adorned with a teddy bear. Aylan was neither a "migrant" nor a "refugee," it adds, just a 3-year-old boy "wanting to play safely." It continues: "In Heaven, you will be nursed by those who held you, by those who kissed you and by those who risked everything in the hope of you reaching the shores of safety." Its final line: "May God forgive us for failing you." The boy drowned along with his older brother and mother, and their surviving father has brought the bodies back to Syria.

Meanwhile, Britain announced today that it would take another 4,000 refugees from camps in the Middle East, reports AP, and a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency says the hope is that the decision will provide "momentum" for other countries to do the same. In Hungary, a standoff continues between authorities and migrants who have refused orders to get off a train—Hungary wants to send them to a migrant camp for processing, but they want to continue on to Germany. Hungary's prime minister is warning that "millions" more people are on the way, reports Reuters. (More migrants stories.)

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