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The Syrian man who survived a capsizing during a desperate voyage from Turkey to Greece buried his wife and two sons on Friday in their hometown of Kobani, returning them to the conflict-torn Syrian Kurdish region they had fled, according to the Associated Press.
With the burial, Abdullah Kurdi abandoned any plans of leaving his homeland again.

"He only wanted to go to Europe for the sake of his children," said Suleiman Kurdi, an uncle of the grieving father. "Now that they're dead, he wants to stay here in Kobani next to them.

The haunting image of the 3-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach focused the world's attention on the wave of migration fuelled by war and deprivation.

Tima Kurdi, Abdullah Kurdi's sister in B.C., said she wanted to bring her brother to Canada, but was dismayed with the refugee process in an attempt to bring over another brother.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada said it received no refugee application for the father of the two drowned boys.

It did, however, receive an application for Abdullah Kurdi's brother, Mohammed, but said it was incomplete and did not meet regulatory requirements for proof of refugee status recognition.

Tima Kurdi confirmed her family had only made an official request for Mohammed Kurdi, explaining she and her husband could only afford to sponsor one brother. They planned to apply for Mohammed first and subsequently bring Abdullah and his family to Canada.