WATCH: Girl shields sibling from rubble for 36 hours in Syria quake

Video shows locals cheering as Mariam and Ilaaf are pulled out of debris wrapped in blankets


News Desk February 08, 2023
The sisters became trapped when their house collapsed on them while they were sleeping. SCREENGRAB

Two children wedged between concrete in the remains of their home in northern Syria have been rescued more than 36 hours after Monday’s quake trapped their family as they slept, CNN reported.

“Get me out of here, I’ll do anything for you,” the older child whispers to rescuers who are seen in video squatting in the rubble of the children’s home in Besnaya-Bseineh, a small village in Haram, Syria.

“I’ll be your servant,” she adds, as a rescuer replies, “No, no.”

The girl’s name is Mariam, and she gently strokes the hair on her younger sibling’s head as they lie squashed together in what could be the remains of their bed. She’s able to move her arm enough to cover her sibling’s face, providing some protection from the dust amid the debris.

According to the report, the younger child’s name is Ilaaf, according to their father – an Islamic name that means protection.

Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed said that his wife and three children were sleeping in the early hours of Monday when the earth shook with a 7.8-magnitude quake, the biggest to hit the region in more than a century of records.

“We felt the ground shaking … and rubble began falling over our head, and we stayed two days under the rubble,” he said. “We went through, a feeling, a feeling I hope no one has to feel.”

Pinned under rubble, Al-Sayed said his family recited the Quran and prayed out loud that someone would find them.

“People heard us, and we were rescued – me, my wife and the children. Thank God, we are all alive and we thank those who rescued us,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

Read more: Erdogan visits earthquake-hit south as death toll rises to more than 11,000

Video showed locals cheering as Mariam and Ilaaf are carried from the rubble wrapped in blankets. The children were taken to hospital, where they’re receiving medical care.

The Al-Sayeds’ home is in Idlib governorate, a rebel-controlled area in northern Syria. At least 1,280 people have died in the rebel-controlled territory, according to the Syrian Civil Defence, a humanitarian aid group more commonly known as the “White Helmets.”

The group said on Tuesday the number of dead and injured is “expected to rise significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble.”

At least 1,250 deaths have been confirmed in government-controlled parts of Syria, state-run news agency SANA reported, taking the total Syrian toll beyond 2,500.

The total number of dead from the quake across the Turkiye-Syrian border is now more than 11,000 – a number that aid agencies have warned is likely to rise significantly.

Aid is slowly reaching those in need, but even before the quake, the United Nations said 70% of Syria’s population needed humanitarian assistance.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ