A Syrian mother gave birth to baby girl under the rubble of their home during recent deadly earthquake that has since claimed over 21,000 people. The mother was found dead but still attached to her baby. The baby name has since been named Aya, Arabic for “a sign from God”. With her parents and all her siblings killed, her great-uncle, Salah al-Badran, will take her in once she is released from the hospital. ALSO READ: Turkey earthquake: Some Rwandans stranded but safe - Embassy However, his own house in the north-west Syrian town of Jenderis was destroyed, too. He and his family managed to escape the one-storey building, but now he and his household of 11 people are living in a tent, he told the media. “After the earthquake, there’s no one able to live in his house or building. Only 10 per cent of the buildings here are safe to live in and the rest are unliveable,” he said, communicating via voice messages. ALSO READ: Kagame joins world leaders in mourning Turkey, Syria earthquake victims The baby girl’s mother had delivered the new born under the rubble of a collapsed building, but had died shortly after. The newborn was still connected to her mother’s umbilical cord when she was discovered by rescuers in the small town of Jinderis, next to the Turkish border, Ramadan Sleiman. The baby is one of the only surviving members of her family. Meanwhile, as videos of the baby’s rescue went viral, several users offered to adopt the child Aya is one of untold numbers of orphans left by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed more than 21,000 people in northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey. The pre-dawn quake brought apartment buildings in their thousands down as residents were roused from sleep. In Turkey, over 80 hours after the quake hit, 16-year-old Melda Adtas was pulled out alive, leaving her overjoyed father in tears and the grieving nation cheering a rare piece of good news after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor. “My dear, my dear!” the father called out as rescuers pulled the teen out of the rubble of a house in Antakya, a city in one of the most affected provinces, Hatay. It took rescue workers five hours to save her life after neighbours who had heard sounds from the splintered walls raised the alarm. When rescuers discovered Melda, she was stuck under a wall that had collapsed.
