I think this man should be chrged with extreme child abuse

And, of course, he's pressing on to Europe.

He too could have drowned. We cannot know the sort of desperation that drives a family to risk this. I am not prepared to judge him.

Well I am.

He must have been taking them away from something he thought would be even worse than the risk of drowning.

If this man was charged and locked up in prison perhaps it would stop other men doing this to their families during the coming winter.

The family were fleeing from Syria, the country we are helping to bomb , let's lock the father up because we are part of the cause that caused his family's deaths , sickening thread

They must know that children are drowning. They need to be stopped. At least in a camp in Turkey the children are alive.

Who are "they"? For my part the "they" who need to be stopped are the traffickers who are making mega-bucks.

It's the traffickers that should be charged.

annie this family were fleeing from ISIL, the father made that clear. He was not fleeing from British bombs, in fact that is a rather sickening allegation.
We don't know his views on British or coalition involvement in trying to stop ISIL, do we.

It is not clear, either, whether this family was fleeing from Syria directly, or from the relative safety (but not ideal situation, I acknowledge) of a refugee camp in Turkey.

Both parents must have decided to take the risk, those poor innocent little children suffered the dreadful consequences.

There isn't much info in the BBC report. It doesn't say if they had a safe place to stay in Turkey.

I wonder if I am far out to think he may have been the only member of the family who could swim at all.

If the alternative is to be bombed, attacked or persecuted what do you do? It doesn't help condemning someone who has tried to do something and failed. Desperate people do risky things. He probably wishes he had drowned as well. If this was a mother who had survived would you be saying the same thing?

Well , I think the report said they were crossing the Aegean Sea which I would think meant going from Turkey, where there is refuge, to Greece and a route to Europe.

The traffickers go round the camps offering a route to a better life.

I don't for one moment think he will be wishing he had drowned with them.

It is the men who make these decisions.

What a nasty, cynical, judgemental post, jingl. This man truly believed that he was taking his family to a better life. The fact that he was wrong will stay with him for the rest of his own life. If punishment is warranted, as you believe, surely that will be more than enough.

And many of them are Syrians making a fast buck out of the misery of their compatriots

Those children had time to wait it out in a refugee camp.

I would tend to agree with your last post jingls re waiting it out in the refugee camps.

But the traffickers go round persuading people they can help them get to a better life. They charge a lot for risky little boats - no life jackets, just a promise of a 'better future'.

Rosequartz, I said - we are helping to bomb .

Jingle wants this poor man jailed because he left a refugee camp.

Bloody typical, the worse human crisis in our life time and attack the victims

And this from mothers and grandmothers , God help us , a great example of mans inhumanity to man

In past times, many British people have set off in risky ships for faraway destinations, and a lot of them didn't make it.
No-one considers that they were abusing anyone or being reckless.

Perhaps drowning is better than being kept in a camp with no hope , can't go back and can't go forward , not wanted in this country because they would lower our standard of living , poor little mites

We are helping to bomb - yes, his enemy.

I do not think we can judge - we are not there, either in Syria, or in the refugee camps. This family made a poor judgement under the persuasion of the ruthless traffickers. These are the people who need to be stopped. I am not clear what is being done to achieve this.

I can't imagine the conditions they are living under to put their families and children in this kind of danger....obviously stuck between a rock and a hard place and thought braving the sea was the right thing to do. I know there will be economic refugees but I can't class the families fleeing war torn countries as this. I won't be judging any one.

I hope that there is a faith in the future in the refugee camps - that they may go back to rebuild a free Syria one day.