‘Get me out of here’: survival of Syrian siblings filmed trapped in rubble

Five-year-old Jinan now in hospital with serious leg injury; her brother had only scratches while the rest of their family died

Omar Rahal heard a voice coming from the rubble, so faint that he struggled to understand if it might only be in his head. The previous night, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 had levelled his village, Harem, in the rebel-held province of Idlib in Syria, flattening dozens of buildings including the apartment where his cousin Mahmoud lived with his wife and their seven children.

A few hours later, Rahal, the local police chief, rushed into the rubble of the house in the hope of finding Mahmoud and his family still alive. All morning he heard no signs of life, but at 12.30pm his ears picked up five words spoken by what sounded like a little girl: “Get me out of here.”