Trapped in quake ruins, girl protects her brother for 36 hours as they wait to be saved

Two children lodged under the concrete remains of their home in earthquake-struck Syria have been rescued after enduring a freezing 36-hour wait.

Mariam, the elder sibling, is seen gently stroking her younger brother’s head as they lie wedged between what appears to be the remains of their bed and a collapsed concrete wall after Monday’s devastating tremor.

She is able to move her arm just enough to cover her brother’s face, offering some protection from the great clouds of dust billowing from the cluster of fallen buildings.

Whispering to her rescuers from underneath the remains of their home in Besnaya-Bseineh, a small village in Haram, Syria, Mariam says:“Get me out of here, I’ll do anything for you.

“I’ll be your servant,” she adds, as a rescuer replies: “No, no.”

Their father later explained to CNN that the younger child is called Ilaaf – an Islamic name that means protection.

Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed told the broadcaster that his wife and three children were sleeping when the 7.8-magnitude quake hit neighbouring Turkey on Monday morning.

“We felt the ground shaking … and rubble began falling over our head, and we stayed two days under the rubble,” he said. “We went through, a feeling, a feeling I hope no one has to feel.”

Caught under the wreckage of their home, Al-Sayed said his family recited the Quran and prayed out loud that someone would find them.

“People heard us, and we were rescued – me, my wife and the children. Thank God, we are all alive and we thank those who rescued us,” he said.

Footage shows locals cheering as Mariam and Ilaaf are carried from the rubble wrapped in blankets. The children were taken to hospital, where they are receiving medical treatment.

In Syria, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces.

Syria itself is an international pariah under western sanctions linked to the war.

The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes which hit north-west Turkey in 1999.