The father of a three-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach Wednesday whose image shocked the world said his children "slipped through my hands" as their boat was taking in water en route to Greece.

"I was holding my wife's hand. But my children slipped through my hands. We tried to cling to the boat, but it was deflating. It was dark and everyone was screaming," Abdullah Kurdi told Turkey's Dogan news agency of the sinking that also killed his wife and 5-year old child.