Father of Alan Kurdi, drowned Syrian boy, describes desperate ordeal to save family

The father of a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach says his boys "slipped away" from hishandsafter their rowboat capsized trying to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkeywith several other refugees.

"I was holding my wife's hand, my children slipped away from my hands," Abdullah Kurdi said in a statement to police obtained by the Turkish newspaperHurriyet. "We tried to hold on to the boat.Everyone was screaming in pitch darkness. I couldn't make my voice heard to my wife and kids."

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The death of Kurdi's three-year-old son,Alan, who drowned along with his brother, Galib, 5, and mother, Reham, has drawn worldwide attention to the Syrian refugee crisisand placed the Canadian government under fire after it emerged the family had been trying to come to Canada with the help of their aunt, TimaKurdi.

(Stories that appeared earlier Thursdaypublished different versions of the boys' names. Tima Kurdi said the Turkish government misspelled them. Alan and Galib are the correct spellings.)

AbdullahKurdispoke publicly for the first time Thursday after he identified thebodies of his wife and sons in a Turkish morgue and prepared to take them home to Syria.

Kurdi said he got on a boat with 13 people, including the man steering the boat. He said the boat was heavy in the water.

"We sailed in the sea for about fourto fiveminutes," he said. "The man steering the boat saw that the sea was high, the waves were high.

"We were hit by the firstwave and he jumped into the water and escaped away. I tried to take over the steering but we were hit by another wave. The boat capsized. I grabbed my children and my wife. But they died."

The father said he just wanted "tosit next to the grave of my children and my wife, and rest."

Reuters reported earlyThursday that Kurdi had said Canadian officialsoffered him citizenship after seeing what happened, but hedeclined.

But Citizenship and Immigration Canada released a statement Thursday afternoon saying "Canada did not offer citizenship to Mr. Abdullah Kurdi."

Sister sought to sponsor relatives

Kurdi's sister Tima immigrated to Canada severalyears ago and said she has been trying since at least March to help Abdullah and another brother and their families come toCanada, but Citizenship and Immigration clarified Thursday that no formal application for refugee status was made on behalf of Abdullah's family.

"There was no record of an application received for Mr. Abdullah Kurdi and his family," a statement from the department said.

The department confirmed that an application was made on behalf of his brother, Mohammed.

"An application for Mr. Mohammed Kurdi and his family was received by the department but was returned as it was incomplete as it did not meet regulatory requirements for proof of refugee status recognition," the statement said.

NDP MP FinDonnelly,whorepresentsNewWestminsterCoquitlamandis running in thePort MoodyCoquitlam riding inthe Oct. 19 federal election, said Wednesday that Tima Kurdi approached his officein March and requestedhelp withsponsoring her relatives as refugees.

"She was very concerned, obviously, with what was going on in Syria and wanted to get her family out," Donnellysaid.

Minister 'promised' to look into it: MP

Donnelly said after considering the options, they decided to write to the Canadian Immigration Minister Chris Alexander directly a letter that Donnelly said he delivered.

"[Alexander] promised that he would look into it, to me. I thought he would actually do it," said Donnelly.

"We did get some requests for detailed information about the family from his staff to mine then nothing."

Donnellysaid Canada must do more to help and shelter Syrian refugees.

"Obviously, this is devastating for the family," he said.

"We need to address the situation. We need to look at how we can bring people into our country."

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More than four million refugeeshave fled Syria since the civil warbeganin 2011. There are also more thanseven million internally displacedpeople within Syria.

Alexander, who is running for the Conservative Party in the Ontario riding of Ajax, on Thursday announced he isinterruptinghis re-electioncampaignin order to address the refugee crisis.

In an interview Wednesday onCBC'sPower & Politics, he had defended Canada's refugee responsewhile also castigating the media for not reporting more on the migrant crisis.

In astatement announcing he is returning to OttawaThursday, Alexander saidCanada has already resettled nearly 22,000 Iraqis and 2,300 Syrians and has set targets to accept 23,000 Iraqiand 11,300 Syrian refugees.