An 18-month-old girl has been undergoing intensive medical treatment for severe burns in southern Turkey, after a fire ravaged her family’s tent at a Syrian refugee camp.
Doctors told British broadcaster Sky News that at first they thought there was little chance of Dalal surviving due to the seriousness of her injuries, as almost her entire body appeared burnt.
But despite major burns on her face and scalp, badly damaged lungs and amputated fingers, she is alive.
Dr Bahar Aydinli, director of Mersin City Hospital, said that in spite of the progress, there was a “very very long way” to go.
Dr Aydinli showed Dalal’s parents their daughter in hospital over a video call, almost fully wrapped in bandages.
They were relieved to see Dalal moving.
According to Sky News, the toddler’s family ended up at the Idlib camp after moving several times due to fighting in the Middle Eastern country.
Like many others, they had been using a stove to heat their flimsy tent when a fire broke out, Sky News reported.
Rescuers worked to save the children at the camp including Dalal who survived, but her older sister Yasmeen didn’t make it.
Dalal was then rushed to Mersin City Hospital in Turkey for treatment.
A recent UN statement said that at least 121,000 people in 304 sites in Syria’s north west were badly affected when torrential rain and strong winds damaged or destroyed at least 21,700 tents.
The harsh weather conditions add to an already disastrous humanitarian situation with the spread of the coronavirus and a worsening economic crisis.
The rebel-held Idlib province and western parts of Aleppo last year witnessed a crushing Russian-backed government offensive that displaced hundreds of thousands and damaged dozens of clinics and hospitals.
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A Syrian refugee man walks on the main market street in Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria on July 30, 2018. Muhammad Hamed / Reuters -
Syrian refugees prepare to return to their homelands of Jarablus, Damascus, Aleppo, A'zaz, Al Bab and Afrin in Syria. Here they are seen loading their belongings onto buses and waiting to depart from Esenyurt Municipality garden in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 9, 2019. Emrah Gurel for The National -
Syrian refugee students take part in a washing hands activity during an awareness campaign about coronavirus on March 11, 2020. Reuters -
The Zaatari camp in Marfaq, south of the Syrian border, became Jordan’s first official camp for Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their country. In the photo: Aya stands with her neighbours in Zaatari camp in Jordan. She is one of 60,000 children in Zaatari camp. WFP -
Millions of Syrians have been forced to flee their country since the war began in 2011. AFP -
Refugee children at a refugee camp in Lebanon watch a magic show in Syria. Courtesy Magic for Smiles -
A boy roller skates at Seven Hills Skate Park in Downtown Amman, Jordan, on September 22, 2020. The Seven Hills is a Jordanian non-profit organisation that uses skateboarding as a tool to encourage social cohesion, youth leadership and gender equality. Andre Pain / EPA -
Girls enjoy skateboarding at Seven Hills Skate Park in Downtown Amman, Jordan, on September 22, 2020. The Seven Hills is a Jordanian non-profit organisation that uses skateboarding as a tool to encourage social cohesion, youth leadership and gender equality. -
The family of Ali Kinno pose for a photograph at a temporary apartment in the coastal town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, on September 15, 2020. The Kinno family from Syria's Aleppo region was devastated in the wake of the August 4 explosion at the Beirut port, their tragic story reflects the particular pain of Syrian refugee families in Lebanon, which is now home to about a million Syrians. Hassan Ammar / AP
