Father buries six-year-old child at sea after migrant boat went adrift for days

Police spokesman Christos Andreou said the Syrian man told them the boat had departed from Syria on February 20 but at some point ran out of fuel, sailing adrift in rough seas.

A patrol vessel transferred at least 31 migrants to the southern coastal town of Larnaca.

The Cypriot officers noticed a discrepancy in the number of children declared on the Syrian man’s documents and those left on board.

Petros Zenios, deputy operations chief with the Cyprus migration service, told state broadcaster CyBC that three other migrants tried to swim for help after noticing what appeared to be city lights on the horizon.

He said there was no way that would’ve been Cyprus because of the boat’s distance from shore.

The three remain missing despite an extensive search.

Zenios said two other migrants are being treated in a hospital, one in critical condition after apparently consuming seawater.

The other is suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.

There were 11 other minors aboard the boat, all in good health.

A Cyprus court ordered the 22-year-old boat captain to remain in police custody for eight days.

He faces charges including manslaughter and causing death through negligence.

Zenios said 1158 minors arrived in Cyprus aboard migrant-laden boats all of last year.

Some 316 minors reached the island by sea so far this year.

Meanwhile, Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou told other European Union counterparts in Brussels that the 27-member bloc should re-examine parts of Syria to facilitate repatriations of migrants.

Officials from Greece, Sweden and Austria agreed the EU needs to re-evaluate the issue.