Damascus: A Syrian baby girl who was miraculously born under the earthquake rubble and remained connected through the umbilical cord to her mother, who was dead, is six months old and in good health, Associated Press reported.
On Monday, February 6, a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria followed by multiple aftershocks.
The devastating earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria.
The baby Afraa, survived ten hours under the rubble before she was rescued. It is not clear when exactly she was born after the building collapsed, but her temperature dropped to 35 degrees Celsius, a critical level. She weighed 7 pounds (3.17 kilograms), which is a normal weight for a newborn; which indicates that the mother was about to complete her pregnancy.
The earthquake claimed the lives of her mother, father, and four of her siblings— three sisters and one brother, in addition to destroying her four-storey house.
Her story captivated the world at the time, and people from all over the world expressed their desire to adopt her.
After her discharge from the hospital, Afraa was handed over to her paternal aunt and her husband.
The hospital staff named her Aya, which means “miracle” in Arabic. After being adopted by her aunt’s family, she was given a new name, Afraa, after her late mother.
“We are very happy with her, because she reminds us of her parents and siblings. She looks very much like her father and her sister Nawara.” her adopted father, Khalil al-Sawadi told Associated Press.
