Photographer Nilüfer Demir has described the moment she came across refugee Aylan Kurdi's body on a Bodrum beach.

Demir said her hands were shaking as she lifted her camera to take the toddler's photograph.

The Dogan News Agency journalist admits she was badly shaken when she found the boy's body: "I was petrified".

Demir says she was shocked to find the lifeless bodies of Aylan and his brother Ghalib (5), though she has been covering the migration crisis for 15 years.

“Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was lying lifeless face down in the surf, in his red t-shirt and dark blue shorts fold to his waist."

"Ghalib was lying 100 meters ahead of his brother. I approached him this time. I noticed they didn’t have any lifejackets on them, any arm floats, anything to help them to float in the water. This image was showing how dramatic the incident was" added the reporter.

Meanwhile, earlier today Abdullah Kurdi arrived back in his hometown of Kobane, Syria to bury his family.