Baby born under earthquake rubble named Aya by hospital staff in Syria

By Esref Musa and Ethem Emre Ozcan

AFRIN, Syria (AA) - A Syrian baby who was found under the earthquake rubble still tied to her dead mother's umbilical cord has been named Aya.

Aya who was born under extraordinary circumstances in the town of Jindires, northwestern Syria, will grow up an orphan.

She came into this world in the wee hours of Monday morning, when the first earthquake struck, while her mother was still trapped under the debris.

The baby was rescued from the debris after five hours of search and rescue work by the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) teams in the town.

There were injuries on various parts of her body.

The staff at Ceyhan hospital named her Aya and confirmed she is in good health.

The baby also lost three siblings in the earthquake.

In Syria, more than 3,100 people died from the earthquake, according to figures compiled by the Syrian regime's Health Ministry and the Syrian White Helmets civil defense.

More than 14,300 people were killed and over 63,000 injured by two strong earthquakes which jolted southern Türkiye on Monday, according to the latest official figures released Thursday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat