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2023.02.08 00:36 GMT+8

Newborn baby tied to dead mother's umbilical cord survives earthquake

Updated 2023.02.08 08:59 GMT+8
CGTN

A newborn baby has been saved from the rubble of a home in northern Syria despite still being attached to her mother by the umbilical cord.

The baby's mother died in Monday's earthquake along with the rest of her immediate family, leaving her as the sole survivor.

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However, the baby's extended family members saved her from certain death following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has devastated parts of southern Türkiye and northern Syria.

The quake flattened the family home in the rebel-held town of Jindayris, leaving family members and locals desperately searching for survivors in the rubble.

A newborn baby survived Monday's earthquake after being pulled from the rubble of her family home in Syria while still being tied to her mother's umbilical cord. /Rami Al Sayed/AFP

Khalil al-Suwadi, cousin of the baby's father, said: "We heard a voice while we were digging," Suwadi told AFP.

"We cleared the dust and found the baby with the umbilical cord (intact) so we cut it and my cousin took her to hospital."

Video footage shows a man sprinting from the rubble of a collapsed four-story building clutching a tiny baby covered in dust.

A second man runs towards the first carrying a blanket to try to warm the newborn in the sub-zero temperatures while a third screams for a car to take her to hospital.

The baby's mother and entire immediate family were killed in the earthquake, before extended family members pulled her from the rubble. /Rami Al Sayed/ AFP

The baby was taken for treatment in the nearby town of Afrin, while family members spent the next several hours recovering the bodies of her father Abdullah, mother Afraa, four siblings and an aunt.

The baby is now being treated in an incubator at a hospital in Afrin but hani Maarouf, the paediatrician treating her, says she arrived in a bad condition.

"She had several bruises and lacerations all over her body," he said.

"She also arrived with hypothermia because of the harsh cold. We had to warm her up and administer calcium."

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