‘A True Miracle’: Crowd Cheers As Entire Family Pulled From Rubble in Syria

A Syrian family was rescued from the rubble of their collapsed home after huge earthquakes devastated southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, killing at least 11,000 people.

Amid the widespread misery caused by the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which was followed by another quake and multiple aftershocks, there was one moment of joy on Tuesday as an entire family was rescued from beneath the rubble of their home.

Footage released by the Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, shows rescuers drilling into the debris of the collapsed home in the village of Bisnia, near Idlib in northwestern Syria on Tuesday afternoon. A huge crowd surrounding the rescue site erupts in cheers as a man is pulled from the rubble, raising his finger as he is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

The footage shows three children, appearing relatively unharmed, being rescued and taken to an ambulance where they are embraced by women, along with another person who is brought in on a stretcher.

“A true miracle,” read the caption on the post shared by the Syria Civil Defence. “The sounds of joy embrace the sky.”

Officials announced Wednesday that the death toll from Monday’s earthquake had risen to more than 11,200 across Turkey and Syria, with the number of deaths expected to rise further. 

Idlib is the last rebel-held enclave in Syria and has a huge population of people displaced by 12 years of civil war. 

Even before the earthquakes, the humanitarian situation in the region was grim, with medical facilities stretched thin and only one official border crossing from Turkey available to help deliver aid.