KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Hearing about migrant boats sinking off the Algerian cost was a tragedy for the family of Rinas who tried to cross the sea, hoping to find a better life for his small family.
The family is still waiting for the body of their son, Rinas Muslim, who drowned during his journey on a boat carrying refugees, that sat off on October 4 from the Algerian city of Oran towards Spain.
The death toll of Syrian migrants rose to 18; all of them are from the city of Kobani, northern Syria.
The 30-years-old Muslim is married and a father of three children.
He left Kobani on August 6 and headed towards Lebanon and then to Algeria, as he was planning to reach Europe across the sea.
Bozan Muslim, Rinas’ brother, said that the obstacles that Algerian government puts in front of returning his brother’s body have increased their grief.
He said that one of his friends would receive the bodies in Algeria, as autopsy procedures have been finished and he is waiting for the approval of Algerian authorities to transfer the corpses, something that may take some time.
He called on concerned authorities, human rights organizations and Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to intervene to expedite the procedures of sending the corpse home.
Muslim said that he has contacted with his relatives and friends in Algeria for 17 days to continue the procedures of sending the corpses to Kobani, but routine procedures prevent this.
An exclusive source in the AANES told North Press that the procedures to send the corpses of the Syrian refugees are about to be done.
The AANES measures came in response to growing appeals by victims’ families that the bodies should be returned.
“The AANES has founded a special committee, consisting of diplomats and representatives of the administration abroad,” the source said, adding that the committee would retrieve the bodies “soon.”
On October 20, the Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, called on those who hail from areas in northeastern Syria and stranded in Algeria to return home, expressing their readiness to provide all necessary facilities for their “dignified and safe return.”
The Syrians stranded in Algeria fear that they might be handed over to the Syrian government.
Hundreds of Syrians are still stranded in Algeria, willing to return to their cities, but many obstacles, the most notable of which is the illegal entry, foil attempts to get them back.
The family of Ahmad Muhammad Ramo, is also still waiting for the arrival of the corpse of their son who lost his life on the same boat.
Ramo, 42, is married and has four children, three sons and a daughter.
Three months ago, he left Kobani to Lebanon and then to Libya, heading towards Europe.
Wisso Ramo, Ahmad’s cousin, said that they sat up a mourning tent for three days, after his body was formally identified in a hospital in Algeria by relatives of him.
However, the actions of the Algerian authorities are delaying the return of the body home.
Ramo added that their relatives in Algeria follow up on the procedures of retrieving the corpses, but the Algerian authorities’ procedures take some time, especially that they are still looking for other corpses of the refugees.
On October 16, another corpse was identified of a person called Baker Muhammad Ali, a refugee from Kobani, increasing the number of the identified bodies to 12, while there are six bodies still unidentified.
Migration from Syria is increasing in general due to the deteriorating living conditions in a country ravaged by warring parties.
Since January, dozens of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean on their way to Europe.
On September 20, a Lebanese boat carrying nearly 150 Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinians among other migrants, capsized off the coast of the Syrian city of Tartus, leading to the death of 89 people so far.