Ottawa, Canada: The Syrian boy whose dead body washed up on a Turkish beach had been identified as three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who along with his family, was reportedly wanted to go to Canada, reported different media and agencies on Thursday.

The bleak image of the lifeless toddler lying face down in the sand has become a poignant image of the plight of Syrian refugees and quickly went viral on Wednesday.

He was believed to be one of at least 12 migrants who died trying to reach Greece when their boats sank in Turkish waters.

Hindustan Times ran a report on Thursday quoting Canada National Post newspaper saying that Turkish media identified Aylan’s family.

According to the report, Aylan’s five-year-old brother Galip and mother Rehan also died in their boat capsized, but his father, Abdullah Kurdi, reportedly survived the capsize.

The Ottawa Citizen reported sister of Abdullah Kurdi, said to be the only survivor of the family of four, was the ‘subject of a ‘G5’ privately sponsored refugee application’ that Canada’s immigration authorities rejected in June. 

‘I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat,’ the newspaper quoted Teema Kurdi, a Vancouver hairdresser, as saying.

‘I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there.’

Kurdi emigrated to Canada more than 20 years ago, according to the paper.

Ahead of October 19 elections, the struggle of Syrian refugees took center stage on the Canadian campaign trail Wednesday, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisting he would do more if his Tories are re-elected.

Harper has come under fire for not taking in more Syrians. While Canada has agreed to resettle 20,000 refugees, as of late July it had only welcomed 1,002, according to government figures.

Canada’s immigration minister, Chris Alexander, meanwhile told local television Wednesday before the publication of the photo that Canada has taken in ‘approximately 2,500’ Syrian refugees.