30 April 2024

Pournara/Nicosia, Cyprus  – As the small fishing boat carrying Rihab al-Ahmad, her husband and four children pushed off of the Syrian coast and sailed for Cyprus on February 20, a better future seemed almost within grasp. Rocked by the waves, al-Ahmad held tight to her youngest son, six-year-old Saifuddin. 

Nine days later, she would bury him at sea.

“From the second we got on the boat, Saif was in my arms,” the 31-year-old mother told Syria Direct nearly a month later at her small caravan at the Pournara Reception Center in Cyprus. 

The journey to the island nation was only supposed to take a day. But, less than 24 hours in, the boat ran out of fuel and slowly came to a halt, drifting at the mercy of the Mediterranean currents. The little food and water on board was quickly consumed. Overwhelming thirst and hunger overwhelmed the more than 31 passengers.

“I wasn’t afraid [for myself],” al-Ahmad said. “But I was terrified for my child, who was in my arms. He was hungry and thirsty, and I couldn’t feed him or give him water.”

After several days at sea without enough food or water, Saifuddin’s health began to significantly deteriorate. One day, his eyes rolled back in his head. He lay still in his mother’s arms, his gasps for breath gradually fading.

“He couldn’t bear it anymore. His body was too weak,” al-Ahmad said, tears filling her eyes. She paused, then continued: “His soul left his body around 2 in the morning, while he was in my arms.”

Al-Ahmad held Saifuddin for days after he died, as his skin took on a blue-yellow hue. Finally, still stranded, she had to let him go. With her husband, she placed her son’s body into the dark water. He sank, buried by the waves.