A group of at least 31 migrants were rescued about 108 kilometers south of Cyprus last Thursday (February 29). Late on March 4, Cyprus police told the state-run Cyprus News Agency that one of those on board, a Syrian father of four, admitted under questioning to burying his child at sea two days before the group was rescued.

Once on shore, Cypriot police officers questioned the man after noticing a discrepancy in the number of children declared on the man’s documents and those present on board the boat, reports the news agency Associated Press (AP).

Also read: Child dies after drifting on the Mediterranean for days

The man reportedly told police that he had been forced to bury his child at sea after they died two days before the vessel was eventually spotted on radar.

Food and fuel ran out

According to Cyprus’ Rik news channel, the group were found drifting in "rough weather." The father told police that the group had set off from Syria on February 20 "but that food and fuel had run out during the journey, and the boat had got caught up in a storm."

Police say the father thinks the child "probably died from starvation," reported Rik news.

Survivors also told police that three of the individuals on board had tried to swim for help aboard "improvised floats" before the rescuers arrived, thinking they had seen lights on the horizon from a city. They remain missing, confirmed Cyprus police deputy operations chief Petros Zenios.

Also read: Hundreds of migrants arrive off the coast of Cyprus

Zenios added that due to the boat’s distance from shore when it was spotted on radar by the marine police, there is no way the lights the three thought they saw could have been from a Cypriot town.

Two treated in hospital

Two of the migrants on board the boat had to be treated in hospital. One remains in critical condition after apparently having consumed seawater during the voyage, while the other is reported to be suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.

Eleven minors were found on the ship and are reportedly in good health. The migrants were initially taken to the southern port town of Larnaca, before being taken to the Pournara reception center, reported AP and Rik news.

A 22-year-old man is accused of captaining the boat and has been ordered by a Cyprus court to remain in police custody for eight days. He faces charges of manslaughter and causing death through negligence. Rik news reported that he was brought before the Larnaca district court on March 1 “where he was remanded for eight days.”

Repatriations to Syria 'should be considered' on European level

According to Zenios, 316 minors have reached Cyprus by sea since the beginning of the year. In 2023, a total of 1,158 minors arrived in Cyprus.

Cyprus’ Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou, speaking in Brussels on Monday, called on the bloc to start re-examining its policy on returning Syrians to their homeland if they failed to qualify for asylum. He said that some parts of Syria should be considered safe and therefore could be places where Syrians could be repatriated.

EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides posted on her X page that she was pleased to welcome Ioannou and a delegation from the Cyprus parliament to Brussels.

Also read: Eastern Mediterranean, hundreds rescued, some missing

Ioannou's proposal was met with agreement from officials in Greece, Sweden and Austria, according to an EU statement issued on Monday (March 4), AP reports.

Cyprus increases repatriations

At the end of December 2023, AP reported that Cyprus was the first EU nation to repatriate more migrants after their asylum applications had been rejected than those who arrived in a single year.

On December 21, Ioannou told CyBC that 11,000 migrants had been repatriated since the beginning of 2023, more than double the number repatriated in 2022. Almost two-thirds of those repatriations were voluntary, stated the minister.

Cyprus, along with other Mediterranean 'front-line' states, has consistently called for compulsory relocation of migrants around the bloc, so that the numbers who arrive at the EU's outer borders do not stay in the first country of arrival.

With AP