The image of drowned Syrian child is breaking everyone's heart

Relatives of the young migrant boy whose tiny body was photographed washed up on the shores of the Mediterranean in pictures that shocked the world have spoken for the first time.

Little Galip, five, and Aylan Kurdi, three, were on an overcrowded dinghy filled with refugees fleeing the war in Syria when it capsized shortly into the crossing to the Greek island of Kos.

Pictures of Aylan's limp body in the sand and of it being carried by a local gendarme has come to epitomise the crisis engulfing Europe as a tide of humanity flees the horrors in the Middle East.

Both boys died in the sea alongside their mother, Rehan. Their father Abdullah survived. Now the boys' aunt has spoken for the first time of the moment a grief-stricken Mr Kurdi called relatives after the tragedy, managing only to say: 'My wife and two boys are dead.'

The news comes as a heartbreaking new photographs emerged of Galip and Aylan - who hail from the ISIS-besieged Syrian city of Kobane - showing the boys smiling and laughing as they sit together alongside a large teddy bear.

Read more here.

Twitter reactions:

His name is Aylan Kurdi. And may his last photograph truly shame us all. http://t.co/wDPbR4Bc2C pic.twitter.com/WcFyeRr2V2

— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) September 3, 2015

Heartbreaking https://t.co/NrV3krlbkI

— Niha Masih (@NihaMasih) September 2, 2015

Arabs that are crying in disbelief over the dead Syrian child are living in countries where Syrian refugees are not allowed to enter.

— Yasmine Ballout (@yasminebal) September 3, 2015

Not sharing the image but if you've seen the Syrian child on the beach, it's going to haunt you. Kids don't deserve this hateful world.

— Manas (@Spooferman_) September 3, 2015

This is an absolute heartbreaker. Refugees not migrants. Change the terminology & the attitude http://t.co/c7TxdhXHf6

— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) September 2, 2015

Won't tweet directly into people's TLs, but images from @bouckap of Syrian child drowned trying to reach Europe shows price of inaction.

— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) September 2, 2015

HEARTBREAKING... Syrian child escaping from death to face death from drowning & washed up on Turkish coast today pic.twitter.com/tvbv3k0pjG

— Abbs Winston (@AbbsWinston) September 2, 2015