Aunt and uncle adopt a Syrian baby born in the earthquake
World
Aunt and uncle adopt a Syrian baby born in the earthquake
JANDARIS, Syria (Reuters) - An infant child born in northern Syria during this month’s devastating earthquake was reunited on Saturday with her aunt and uncle after her parents and siblings died in the disaster.
Footage circulating widely on social media after the quake showed a rescuer scrambling down a hill of rubble carrying a tiny dust-covered baby.
The newborn was later identified as the child of Abdallah and Afraa Mleihan, who died in the earthquake along with their other children in the rebel-held town of Jandaris in Syria’s Aleppo province.
The infant was treated in the Jihan Hospital further west in the Afrin district, also opposition-held, until medics could verify the identities of her relatives.
On Saturday, her paternal aunt Hala and uncle by marriage Khalil Al-Sawadi finally picked up their niece - whom they named Afraa, after her deceased mother.
“This girl means so much to us because there’s no one left of her family besides this baby. She’ll be a memory for me, for her aunt and for all of our relatives in the village of her mother and father,” Sawadi told Reuters.
