NOS News•
A baby born under the rubble in Syria’s Aleppo region after the earthquake has been reunited with family members this weekend. An uncle and aunt who had just had a daughter of their own adopted the girl. Her parents and their other children did not survive the earthquake.
The images of the rescued baby, who was still attached to her mother with her umbilical cord when she was found, went around the world. A rescue worker carried the child, covered in dust, down a mountain of rubble in his arms.
The family lived in the town of Jandaris, in the Aleppo region, where Syrian insurgents rule. The baby was cared for in a hospital until her family could be determined. A DNA test was done for this, among other things.
Afraa
Her aunt and uncle named her Afraa after her mother. “This girl means so much to us,” her uncle told Reuters news agency. “She is the only one who survived. She is a lasting memory of the family to me and her aunt and other relatives of her parents.”
Afraa was born under the rubble three days after the earthquake. She is raised with her niece.
Jandaris, where the family lives, is one of the hardest hit places in rebel territory in Syria. The area had already been badly affected by the civil war. As far as is now known, 5,800 people have been killed in the earthquake in Syria, mainly in rebel areas.
The death toll in Turkey has risen to more than 39,000.
Footage of the girl’s rescue:
Small miracle: this Syrian baby was born under the rubble
