THE father of the three-year-old boy whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach, rocking the whole world to its core, has been accused of being a people smuggler who captained the fateful voyage.

A woman who lost two of her three children on the vessel made the stunning claims to Network Ten via her cousin, who lives in Sydney, on Friday night.

The image of Aylan Kurdi’s dead body was the catalyst for Australia to accept 12,000 Syrian refugees who are fleeing persecution in their homeland.

It was claimed on Friday night that his ­father Abdullah was a people smuggler who captained the dodgy boat for its entire voyage, capsizing in heavy seas and killing at least 12 people.

Iraq-based Zainab Abbas, via her Sydney-based cousin Lara Tahseen, told Ten News she paid $10,000 for the voyage and Aylan’s father was in charge of the boat.

“He was a smuggler, yes, he was the one driving the boat,’’ she said.

She claimed a separate people smuggler to whom they paid the money had told them the captain was taking his own children on the voyage.

“He said ‘don’t worry, the captain of the boat, the driver, is going to bring his two kids and his wife,” she said.

The woman claimed the boat was travelling faster than its capabilities and had too many desperate asylum seekers on board.

The family of five was told there would only be six on the boat but when they got on there were 14.

“He was going crazy, like speed,” she said.

Turkish authorities have charged four men over the incident, and three have been refused bail. Mr Kurdi was not one of those charged.

Mr Kurdi denied the claims to the Wall Street Journal on Friday night.

“I lost my family, I lost my life, I lost everything, so let them say whatever they want,” he said.

Earlier Mr Kurdi claimed he did steer the boat, but only after the captain ­allegedly panicked in large seas and jumped overboard when the engine stalled

“I took over and started steering,” he said. “The waves were so high and the boat flipped. I took my wife and my kids in my arms and I realised they were all dead.”

However, Ms Tahseen told The Daily Telegraph her cousin told her Mr Kurdi was definitely at the helm all the time.

Her cousin told her she was at the back of the boat with the two children who died, Haider, 9, and Zanab, 11, while her husband Ahmed Hadi was with their youngest daughter Rawan at the front when the boat flipped.

“Zanab asked Abdullah Kurdi for life jackets. He gave them four but they were five. She didn’t wear a life jacket,” she said.

“He was the one driving the boat right from the start. When they set off five minutes in he was looking left and right, worried, then he was speeding. Even his wife was screaming at him to slow down,” she said.

Ms Abbas told her cousin there was nothing she could do to save her two children.

“I felt my daughter’s hand holding my hand later I felt her leg so she was upside down (Ms Abbas said). I didn’t know what was happening. I was screaming no one answered me. Her youngest daughter was saying ‘please mum, hold on tight, don’t let go of me’,” Ms Tahseen said.

Ms Tahseen said the family left Iraq after Mr Hadi was detained by the authorities in Baghdad last month.

“The Iraqi Government took in her husband, a taxi driver, for a week. They said you work with ISIS. When they realised he didn’t do anything and we are Shia, we are against ISIS. He told his wife ‘we can’t stay in Iraq, it’s not safe for us’. So they planned to go to Europe via Turkey,” Ms Tahseen said.

Ms Tahseen said when the family arrived in Istanbul they phoned a number they were told was Mr Kurdi’s but another man answered.

They paid this man the money and he told them when they arrived at the island they were heading for, on which they would move to another boat to go to Greece, to phone him.

He and Mr Kurdi would then split the money, Ms Tahseen claimed. The trip was only supposed to take 15 minutes.

The only surviving child Rawan was traumatised by the ordeal as the family returned to Iraq penniless and heartbroken.

“She (Ms Abbas) said she just wants someone to help us. Her daughter is in shock, she can’t talk, she can’t do anything. The kids did everything together. What she saw in the sea just shocked her,” Ms Tahseen said.

“She really does want to come here. She is begging the government to do something. It’s really difficult, it’s two kids, it’s really hard.

“She has no income. They sold her husband’s taxi to go to Turkey. She has nothing left.”

Ms Abbas, via her cousin, dismissed claims by Mr Kurdi he was not the boat’s skipper.

“He said there was a Turkish man driving the boat and he jumped off. That’s not true,” Ms Tahseen said.

“I just hope he gets what he deserves and our government will do something for this poor family. It’s just heartbreaking what she is going through. Every time we talk to her she cries and holds the photos of her children.”

The 18-year-old saw the family last month when she was in Baghdad following her wedding there earlier this year.

“They came to my wedding. They were really quiet kids. She bathed them together and dressed them beautifully — wherever the brother goes so did his sisters.”

The Australian government was not able to confirm the woman’s allegations last night.

Ms Abbas is still in Iraq and wants to be part of the intake of 12,000 people who will be granted permanent residency in Australia. The first intake could arrive by Christmas.