Warning: This story contains disturbing images. Although, not graphic. Several people on social media have said that we don’t need to see these pictures in order to be aware of the human cost that the refugee crisis is having. But others have commented that seeing such images can help bring home the horror of a crisis.

Photographs of a toddler’s lifeless body washed ashore on a Turkish beach after a migrant boat sank sparked an international outcry on social media on Wednesday, in a poignant image of the refugee crisis.

Wearing a red t-shirt and sneakers, the three-year-old Syrian boy was found lying face down on a beach after an inflatable boat carrying 16 refugees capsized off the Turkish coast.

A Turkish police officer carries the young boy who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos | Source: Reuters

Humanity washed ashore

The boy was among at least 11 other Syrians who died attempting to journey by sea on an overcrowded dinghy to the Greek island of Kos. Among the dead were five children and a woman, Mashable reported.

Another 15 people were rescued and the coastguard, backed by helicopters, was continuing its search for three more who were still missing, a statement said.

This image depicts the Syria tragedy on social media now | Source: Twitter