The Syrian baby who miraculously survived the effects of the two earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in early February has been released from the hospital. The girl was taken by her aunt on Saturday and named after her deceased mother: Afraa.
The newborn baby was pulled alive from the rubble in northern Syria days after the February 6 earthquakes. She was still attached to the umbilical cord of her late mother Afraa Abu Hadiya. Images were seen around the world of the rescue worker lifting the girl by her arms over the ruins of her collapsed world in Jenderes, in rural Afrin. The rest of the family – including father Abdallah and the other children – died.
After the miraculous rescue, the little one was taken to a children’s hospital, where medics confirmed the story that she was still attached to her umbilical cord. “She had bumps, bruises and was barely breathing,” a doctor also said. A day later the news came that she was stable.
The girl was named Aya and she received the necessary care. Meanwhile, authorities tried to identify and verify the identities of relatives. Several strangers reported that they were related to the little one and reports came from all over the world that people wanted to adopt her.
Aunt Hala
Reuters news agency reports on Saturday evening that the girl’s aunt has taken her home. The baby has been released from hospital and will be raised by Hala and her husband Khalil Al-Sawadi. They also gave the girl a new name, Afraa, after her mother.
“This girl means so much to us because she is the only one of her family left. She will be a memory for me, for her aunt and for all the other relatives in her mother’s and father’s village,” Al-Sawadi told Reuters.
The uncle showed Reuters baby Afraa at home. The girl was wrapped in a pink blanket. On his other arm he carried his own newborn daughter, Ataa. That girl was born three days after the earthquakes. The children will be raised together. Hala will breastfeed them both. Among other things, a DNA test was taken from the woman to demonstrate the hereditary link with Afraa.
In Syria, more than 5,800 people died in the earthquakes. Jandaris in northern Syria was badly hit. In Turkey, the preliminary death toll stands at more than 39,000.
Read also: How can people survive for so long under tons of rubble? And what unexpected injuries do they end up with? Emergency doctor explains (+)
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