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The shocking claims made by a woman who lost two of her three children during the perilous journey were revealed by her Australian cousin to a broadcaster last night.

Zainab Abbas said Abdullah Kurdi, the father of Aylan, was the driver of the boat which capsized in the Agean Sea and had lied to the world.

Mr Kurdi has previously claimed he took over the wheel at the dinghy when the captain panicked and jumped ship into the water.

An outpouring of sympathy and support for refugees followed the photo of Aylan's body washed up on Turkish shores.

Yet some have begun to pick holes in Mr Kurdi's story, with some claiming the images were manipulated and Aylan's body had been moved in order to take a more effective photos, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

Ms Tahseen told The Sydney Daily Telegraph her cousin told her Mr Kurdi was definitely at the wheel of the doomed boat for the entire journey.

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

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

"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."