Newborn saved in Syria earthquake adopted by aunt and uncle

A baby girl born underneath rubble in Syria after a devastating earthquake toppled her home and killed her entire immediate family has been adopted by her aunt and uncle — and named to honor her late mother.

Extended family members discovered the newborn, still attached to her deceased mother by umbilical cord, on Feb. 6 in the northern Syrian town of Jinayris in the aftermath of a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

The newborn was discharged from the hospital Saturday after a DNA test confirmed her aunt was a blood relative.

Her aunt and uncle gave her the name Afraa, after her late mother. When she first arrived at the hospital, the staff there named her Aya — meaning “a sign from God’ in Arabic.

“She is one of my children now,” her uncle and adoptive father Khalil al-Sawadi told the Associated Press. “I will not differentiate between her and my children.”

The father, who shares six children with his wife Hala, said his newborn niece has kept alive the memory of their deceased relatives, Afraa Mleihan, her husband Abdallah and their four other children.

“This girl means so much to us because there’s no one left of her family besides this baby. She’ll be a memory for me, for her aunt and for all of our relatives in the village of her mother and father,” Sawadi told Reuters.

Sawadi had been called to identify a dead woman, his wife’s cousin Afraa, when they discovered the newborn. Sawadi said he took a razor from his pocket to cut the umbilical cord before handing the child to another cousin who rushed her to the hospital.

While speaking with reporters, Sawadi held Afraa wrapped in a pink blanket in one arm. In his other arm, wrapped in a blue blanket, was his own newborn, Ataa, who was born three days after the earthquake.

Dramatic footage of Afraa’s rescue shared on social media showed a man running away from the rubble with the dust-covered baby in his arms. The newborn had reportedly been trapped underneath the collapsed building for over 10 hours and arrived at the hospital with bruises and cuts all over her body.

Afraa’s miraculous story was told globally — causing concern for her extended family as some people showed up at the hospital claiming they were related to her even though they had different family names.

“There were legal procedures to confirm the genetic relation, as well as a DNA test,” Sawadi said.

Over 5,800 people have died across Syria following the powerful Feb. 6 earthquake. Jandaris, where Sawadi lives, is one of the hardest-hit areas of the rebel-held north, which has already suffered years of bombardment since the conflict began in 2011.

The earthquake also killed over 40,000 people in Turkey.

Another damaging quake, this time of 6.4-magnitude, struck the border region of Turkey and Syria two weeks later on Monday.

Six people were reported dead as a result of Monday’s quake, which was centered near the southern Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.