'You're a hero': Rescuers capture moment boy is saved from rubble in Syria

This video contains distressing images

'Come on Haroun': The moment rescuers free a boy trapped under rubble


First responders captured the moment they rescued a boy trapped in the wreckage of a collapsed building in Syria, where thousands have been found dead in a devastating earthquake.

Video released by the Syria Civil Defence – known as the White Helmets – shows rescuers in rebel-held Jinderis encouraging a boy called Haroun with words like “you’re a hero” as they pulled him from the rubble.

The rescue gives hope that others may still be saved from under piles of concrete and debris, despite more than 7,700 so far confirmed dead.

But with hundreds of families still trapped, the White Helmets said work will continue in freezing conditions to rescue as many as they can.

Rebel-held north-western Syria is packed with some four million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war and the White Helmets described the situation in the enclave as "disastrous."

The opposition-held area, centred on the province of Idlib, has been under siege for years, with frequent Russian and government airstrikes.

The territory depends on a flow of aid from Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.

The UN had been assisting 2.7 million people each month via cross-border deliveries, which could now be disrupted.


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