Three-year-old Syrian Shahn Yonus and her five-year-old brother Ali were yesterday laid to rest in the cemetery of the Paola mosque two weeks after the Lampedusa tragedy which killed scores of migrants.

Their parents, who last saw them when the boat they were on capsized, are in Malta hoping to hear that their youngest, two-year-old Sham, survived and might be in Lampedusa, according to those present at the funeral service.

The Syrian and Palestinian community in Malta gathered at the mosque for the funeral service and burial of the two young children and a 26-year-old Palestinian woman, Qeem Dahshah.

Prayers were said as the two small white coffins and the larger brown one were carried into the mosque.

During the burial, despair turned into joy for a young Palestinian man who was seen receiving a phone call and immediately running to hug his brother. It turned out he had just been informed that their mother was alive in Lampedusa, where some of the survivors were taken.

During the sermon, Imam Mohammed El Sadi said the recent sea tragedy was a reminder of the suffering that the people of Syria and Palestine suffered every day.

“It is the duty of the world leaders to bring this atrocity to an end,” he said, adding that he could not understand how certain world leaders could sleep when they saw such atrocities happen.

On October 11, a boat full of Syrian and Palestinian migrants capsized after taking in water 60 miles south of Lampedusa. The Armed Forces of Malta rescued 143 migrants while 56 were taken to Lampedusa.

The AFM also brought four bodies to Malta – the two toddlers, an 11-year-old boy and the woman.

It is believed that close to 200 people died during the tragedy.

Several people are still waiting to hear whether their loves ones survived and were taken to Lampedusa.

The deaths were marked later in the day with a commemorative ceremony, organised by the Jesuit Refugee Services, and held by the seashore in Valletta.

Prayers were read out by migrants representing various communities, including Syrian, Somali, Sudanese, Eritrean and Ethiopian.

Archbishop Paul Cremona, the Imam and the head of the Coptic Orthodox community, Paul Elsouriany, also exchanged a few words of support towards those who lost their loved ones.

Those present then threw flowers into the sea – the place where so many lost their lives while searching for a better life.