A Syrian man who was pictured weeping as he and his family reached the Greek island of Kos last month has arrived in Berlin, it has been reported.
The family – Laith Majid, his wife, Nada Adel, their sons Moustafa, aged 18, Ahmed, 17, and Taha, nine, along with seven-year-old daughter Nour – travelled for weeks to reach Germany, Bild newspaper said.
The Facebook group Europe says Oxi posted a picture of the family in Berlin, smiling and laughing in sharp contrast to the images that last month prompted awareness of the mounting crisis as refugees headed for Europe’s borders.
The family are reported to be staying in Spandau, in the former Schmidt-Knobelsdorf police barracks, which have been adapted to house hundreds of refugees who have made their way to Germany.
Majid and his family had fled Islamic State in Deir Ezzor, a Syrian city beset by civil war violence since 2011, before boarding a flimsy inflatable raft – built for four people but carrying 12 – to Kos. They paid US$6,500 for the perilous trip across the water.
Daniel Etter, the photographer who took the image for the New York Times, reported: “When the boat landed, a middle-aged man got out. He was visibly shaken, and had a hard time walking. When all his family finally reached the safety of the beach, he and his wife broke down in tears, hugging every single one of their children.”
Etter helped the family to the main city of Kos, where refugees are processed by the Greek authorities, but later lost track of them.
Nada Adel, an English teacher in Syria, said 13 governments had offered to take them but they had decided on Germany. “Angela Merkel is very good,” she said. “She is like a mother for us.”
Merkel, the German chancellor, has said refugees from Syria can apply for asylum in Germany, rather than the first EU country they arrive in.
The family said seven-year-old Nour still has nightmares about their night spent crossing the water. “We’ll never go back to sea,” Majid told Bild.