Before he jumped on the boat to make the furtive intersection, Shafiullah called his family in Afghanistan to reveal to them he was OK and on his approach to Turkey.
After the call, Shafiullah, who was 16, boarded the boat. He was one of around 100 travelers that evening, last June, and one of thousands of men who have fled Afghanistan consistently this year looking for a safer life in Europe.
Shafiullah was at that point inside Turkey, however the individuals runners he had paid to ship him to Istanbul were going across Lake Van to keep away from police barricades. The lake's waters are perilous, and the dealers were setting out around evening time.
Some place across the water, the vessel they had decided to convey their human payload - including at any rate 32 Afghans, seven Pakistanis and one Iranian - sank. 61 bodies were recuperated, however the rest, including Shafiullah, are missing. A few bodies could be far beneath the surface, Turkish specialists told the BBC, making recuperation impossible.
At any rate four of those idea to have died, including Shafiullah, were sent by a dealer in Kabul. The BBC moved toward the dealer and he consented to chat on the condition that his character was masked.'Everything is organized by telephone'
Elham Noor (not his genuine name) has grounded joins with different hoodlums and cases a high achievement rate in sending individuals to Italy, France, and the UK.
"Carrying is certifiably not an individual business, it's a colossal organization," he said. "We have associations with each other." Nppr doesn't go with the travelers however. "Everything is orchestrated via telephone," he said.
Noor has no lack of customers. Numerous Afghans are edgy to leave their nation. Afghanistan is among the most unfortunate on the planet, it has been assaulted by many years of war. As per the United Nations, 2.7 million Afghans are right now living abroad as displaced people - placing Afghanistan behind just Syria and Venezuela in the rundown of nations which produce the most transients and outcasts.
So Noor has no compelling reason to promote. His customers call him. Youthful Afghans hoping to make the excursion will commonly search out a dealer who has just sent another person from their locale.
However, just a little level of the individuals who attempt to arrive at Europe prevail at their first endeavor, and some stay away forever.
Shafiullah's uncle Sher Afzal said the family realized the excursion would be risky. "Yet, we didn't foresee this," said.