A woman died underneath the rubble of buildings destroyed by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Syria after giving birth to a baby girl.
The newborn was found still connected to her lifeless mother through her umbilical cord underneath lumps of concrete and muddled metal in Jindayris, Syria more than 10 hours after the quake devastated the country, according to New York Post.
The baby’s mother, identified as Abu Hadiya, was dead, as well as the child’s father and four siblings but the infant miraculously survived and was taken to a hospital.
It was reported, however, that the doctors suitably christened the infant “Aya,” which is Arabic for “a sign from God.”
New York Post reports that the orphaned Aya has been adopted by her great-uncle, Salah al-Badran, who will take her when she is released from the hospital, the outlet reported.
Dr. Hani Maarouf said Aya’s condition is improving daily and she suffered no damage to her spine as originally feared.
The doctor said the baby’s mother probably gave birth to the girl and then died in the rubble just a few hours before rescuers found them.
Dramatic footage of the newborn being rescued from the debris has been circulating on social media.
The video shows a man running over the rubble with the dust-covered infant — her umbilical cord still dangling — in his hands as another man throws a blanket to cover her.
Aya’s body temperature had fallen to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and she was rushed to Cihan Hospital in Afrin for treatment and kept in an incubator.
“Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died,” Maarouf said.
She was covered in bruises and cuts and had hypothermia, he added. The area had been hit with a winter storm at the time the earthquake struck.
