Revealed: SECOND passenger claims Aylan Kurdi’s father was working with people smugglers and was driving the boat on which his son died

• Second person on same boat as Aylan Kurdi says boy's father was driver
• Last week, Zainab Abbas said Abdullah Kurdi was a people smuggler
• Passenger Amir Haider has confirmed allegations the father was the driver
• Mr Kurdi denied claims and said he paid the same amount to the traffickers

By Jenny Stanton For Mailonline

Published: 10:09 EST, 14 September 2015 | Updated: 14:38 EST, 14 September 2015

A second passenger on board the boat that claimed the life of Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi says the boy's father was driving.

Amir Haider, 22, repeated allegations that Abdullah Kurdi, who lost his wife and two children in the tragedy, was at the helm of the boat until it sank.

Last week, another passenger, Zainab Abbas, whose son and daughter died on the doomed boat trip, first made the claims, which were vehemently denied by Mr Kurdi.

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Zainab Abbas (left) claims Abdullah Kurdi (right), who lost his wife and sons in the tragedy, was driving the boat

Ahmed Hadi Jawwad (left), pictured with his wife Zainab and their daughter next to photographs of their children who died when the boat capsized

Aylan, three, died alongside his brother Galip, five, and mother, when their boat capsized on route to the Greek island of Kos.

The photograph of his tiny body washed up on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, sparked a global outpouring of support for Syrian refugees as well as his grieving father.

But just days after Mr Kurdi returned to the Syrian city of Kobane to bury his family, fellow passengers on board the dinghy began making allegations against him.

Ahmed Hadi Jawwad and his wife Zainab Abbas, whose 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son drowned, said Mr Kurdi panicked and accelerated when a wave hit the boat. 

'The story that (Mr Kurdi) told is untrue,' Mr Jawwad said, speaking from his in-laws' house in Baghdad on Friday. 'I don't know what made him lie, maybe fear.

'He was the driver from the very beginning until the boat sank.' 

Ahmed Hadi Jawwad (pictured) and his wife said Mr Kurdi panicked and accelerated when a wave hit the boat. He poses next to pictures of their sons who died in the same tragedy as Aylan

Grief: Zainab (left) mourns beside the coffins of their two dead children who drowned off the coast of Turkey

Mr Jawwad said Mr Kurdi swam to them and begged them to cover up his true role in the incident.

And Mr Jawwad said his point of contact with the smugglers was a man called Abu Hussein. 

'Abu Hussein told me that he (Mr Kurdi) was the one who organised this trip,' he said. 

Mr Haider confirmed Jawwad's account and identified Aylan's father as the driver. He said he initially thought Mr Kurdi was Turkish because he was not speaking, but later heard him talking to his wife in Syrian Arabic. 

Ms Abbas told Australian TV station Network Ten through her cousin Lara Tahseen on Friday: 'Yes, it was Abdullah Kurdi driving the boat.'

Ms Abbas said the man she paid to book her passage told her it would be safe because the driver was taking his wife and two children.

Fatima Kurdi, from Canada, stands next to a painting of her late nephew, Aylan Kurdi, on a board outside of EU headquarters in Brussels today

Fatima Kurdi, from Canada, cries after signing a refugee message board outside the EU headquarters today

'When I lost my kids, I lost my life, how can he lie to the media?' her cousin Ms Tahseen said, translating for Ms Abbas.

'He said: "Please don't dob me in." That was in the water.'

Ms Abbas said Mr Kurdi was speeding in the overcrowded boat, which did not have enough life jackets.

She said her husband told him to be careful shortly before the boat capsized, reportedly killing at least 12 people.

But Mr Kurdi told MailOnline after the initial claims from Ms Abbas: 'This is not true. If I was a people smuggler, why would I put my family in the same boat as the other people? I paid the same amount to the people smugglers. 

'I am devastated for the loss of my family and what happened to me. This is too much for me and now they want to ruin my reputation.' 

Mr Kurdi, who said he did not know Ms Abbas' name until MailOnline told him it, added: 'I thought about driving the boat but I didn't do it. That is all lies. 

The photograph of Aylan's body shocked the world and sparked an outpouring of support for Syrian refugees

'I know there was an Iraqi family on the boat and two children had died - a boy and a girl. I don't know why Zainab is saying that.

'She had the same as me - she lost her children, I lost my children. 

'I have three graves in front of me and I have no one.'

MailOnline has been unable to contact Mr Kurdi to put the latest claims to him.  

Meanwhile, Aylan's aunt tearfully urged the EU today to adopt an emergency plan to redistribute refugees.

'Open your heart and take action and come up with a shared plan - that's why I'm here, to honour my brother's family,' Fatima Kurdi told a press conference outside European Union headquarters in Brussels after flying in from Canada.

'It's too late for Aylan and Ghalib and Rihana, but it's not too late for thousands of children and their families who risk everything trying to reach safe haven.' 

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