Amid the devastation caused by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, one story offers a glimmer of hope: a baby girl has been rescued after being born under the rubble of her family’s building.
The baby’s story has touched numerous hearts, and many have offered to adopt her – and now she has a new home with the uncle who helped save her life.
The baby was born in Jinderis, Syria, shortly after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region on February 6. All of her immediate family — including her mother, father, four siblings and an aunt — died, according to AFP.
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It wasn’t until rescuers attempted to identify the bodies of her family that they heard her crying. Among those searching the rubble was the baby’s uncle, Khalil al-Sawadi, who told the Associated Press that he rushed over after the quake and was digging through the rubble when they heard the baby.
Khalil al-Sawadi holds Afraa, a baby girl who was born under the rubble caused by an earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey in the town of Jinderis in Aleppo province, Syria. Ghaith Alsayed/AP
When they found her, she was still attached to her mother, prompting al-Sawadi to take a razor he had in his pocket and use it to cut the umbilical cord, he told AP. After trying to get her to two hospitals that said they were too full for more patients, she finally got the care she needed at a children’s hospital.
Hani Marouf, the pediatrician who helped care for the baby at the hospital, said she was “in such bad shape” when she arrived.
“She was bruised, bruised, cold and barely breathing,” Marouf told the AP. “If the girl had been left there an hour longer, she would have died.”
Officials there gave the baby a name, Aya, which is Arabic for “a sign from God,” according to the AP. Her story soon made headlines, and it wasn’t long before offers to adopt the baby began to pour in. The manager at the hospital where the baby was treated told the BBC he had received many calls from people asking if they could take him in.
CBS News shared the baby’s story on TikTok, where one person said, “I would love to adopt this baby since she has no family left.” Another said, “If she has no family, I will take her. She melts my heart.”
Al-Sawadi renamed her Afraa, the same name given to her biological mother, who died in the earthquake. Al-Sawadi, his wife and their six children are staying with a family in Jinderis as their own home was also destroyed in the earthquake, the AP said, but they are keen to take them in. One of their children was born just days after Afraa.
“She is one of my children now. I will not differentiate between her and my children,” Al-Sawadi told the outlet. “She will be dearer to me than my children because she will cherish the memories of her father, mother and siblings. … I will raise her so that she no longer needs anything.”
Afraa’s family is among the thousands who died in the earthquake and its aftermath. Her home in Jinderis was one of dozens of buildings destroyed, the AP said. The death toll is approaching 45,000 people, making the disaster one of the deadliest earthquake events of the 21st century and the deadliest in more than a decade.
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Li Cohen