A young Syrian girl was found to be protecting her younger brother after the siblings were trapped under the debris of their collapsed home in Syria. Video footage shows the heartwrenching moment where the girl is requesting rescuers to save her little brother.
The seven-year-old called Mariam, and her younger brother Ilaaf were trapped in the debris for some 36 hours.
In the clip, she told the emergency worker: “Sir, if you rescue me and my brother, I’ll do whatever you want.
“But get us out of here.”
The brother and sister were trapped under the rubble at their home in Besnaya-Bseineh near Haram, Syria.
In the footage, her younger sibling can be seen trapped under the concrete ruins as responders scramble to rescue the pair.
The girl then moves her arm over her younger brother’s head to protect him.
A photo was later shared of the two kids resting on a bed after they were rescued from their horrific ordeal.
According to a news report, the children’s father Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed said he, his wife, and their three children were sleeping when the earthquake hit.
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Another said: “Beautiful. God will give her a lot of life to continue taking care of her brother, she is an angel sent by God.”
Another one wrote: “The good news is that they have been rescued and they are free to live.
“I pray their family members are also alive so they can live happily together.”
Another user remarked: “How she’s protecting the boy’s head. Wonder how many thousands were or still are in similar situations? Horrific.”
Syria’s civil defence said at least 2,992 people had been killed in north-west Syria. It said there were more than 2,850 injured.
Earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, said the toll in his country had risen to 9,057.
The president also condemned criticism of the government’s rescue effort, condemned by many in the country as slow and inadequate.
The number appeared to be a reference only to the parts of Syria under government control, not those held by other factions in the north-west of the country, which is closer to the epicentre of Monday’s quake.