Turkey-Syria earthquake: Miracle as baby born under rubble survives but family wiped out

Residents digging through a collapsed building in a north-west Syrian town have rescued a crying infant whose mother gave birth to her while buried underneath the rubble from the devastating earthquake.

The newborn girl’s umbilical cord was still connected to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who died before rescuers could reach her.

The baby was the only member of her family to survive after the building they lived in collapsed.

Monday’s pre-dawn 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by multiple aftershocks, caused widespread destruction across southern Turkey and northern Syria — including the small town of Jinderis, next to the Turkish border, where the girl was found.

The baby girl was rescued more than 10 hours after the quake struck.

After she was dug out, a female neighbour cut the cord before the infant was rushed to hospital.

Video of the rescue on social media shows the moments after the baby was removed from the rubble, with a man lifting her up, her umbilical cord still dangling, and rushing away as another man throws him a blanket to wrap her in.

Dr Hani Maarouf said the girl was being kept on an incubator.

He said the baby’s body temperature had fallen to 35C and she had bruises, including a large one on her back, but she was otherwise in a stable condition.

Dr Maarouf said the girl’s mother must have been conscious during the birth and must have died soon after.

He estimated the baby was born several hours before being found, given the amount her temperature had dropped.

Dr Maarouf said that if the girl had been born just before the quake or rescued later, she would not have survived.

“Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died,” he said.

When the earthquake hit before dawn on Monday, Ms Abu Hadiya, her husband Abdullah Turki Mleihan and their four children apparently tried to rush out of their apartment building but it collapsed on them.

Family relative Ramadan Sleiman said their bodies were found near the building’s entrance.

“She (the baby girl) was found in front of her mother’s legs,” he said. “After the dust and rocks were removed, the girl was found alive.”

Dr Maarouf said the baby weighed 3.175kg, an average weight for a newborn.

“Our only concern is the bruise on her back and we have to see whether there is any problem with her spinal cord,” he said, adding that she was moving her legs and arms normally.

Elsewhere in Jinderis, a young girl named Nour was found alive, buried in concrete under the wreckage of her home.

Search teams and aid has poured into Syria and Turkey, with workers combatting freezing conditions and often using their bare hands to dig through the rubble.

The death toll has soared to more than 7800 and is still rising.