Tragic Heroism: Father Drowns Trying to Save 5-Year-Old Daughter in Belgian Canal

This will be the last time that Abdellah, 33 years old, and his daughter Bouchra, who had just celebrated her fifth birthday, share their passion for fishing. Saturday evening, their fishing trip turned into a tragedy. They both fell into the waters of the Louvain-Dyle canal, in Mechelen, reports HLN. While the thirty-year-old was trying to save his daughter who could not swim and drowned, he lost his life. Abdellah’s pregnant wife had reported their disappearance to the police. On Monday, three days later, they were both found dead in the water.

"Their bond was truly unique. They spent a lot of time together. Fishing was one of their favorite activities. They left together to do what they both loved to do. It is with this in mind that we try to mourn," says Khadija Hosni, Abdellah’s sister and Bouchra’s aunt. A witness who saw the father and daughter between 6 and 7 pm recounts: "It was touching to see. The little girl laughed every time they pulled a fish out of the water. A real moment of complicity between a father and his daughter."

Khadija is saddened by the death of her brother and niece: "My brother was a gentle and devoted father. They were soon to welcome their third child. We can now only console ourselves by thinking that Allah has reunited them. They will be together forever." The bodies of the father and his daughter will be repatriated and buried in Morocco.