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National

Moments of hope caught on camera amid devastation of earthquake in Türkiye and Syria

A crowd of volunteers wearing white helmets surround a pile of rubble which was once a building.

There are signs someone is alive in there.

This is the scene in the Syrian town of Bisina, a day after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Syria and Türkiye, killing thousands of people and burying thousands more alive under the wreckage of their homes.

A man raises his hand as he is freed from the destruction, and cheers erupt from the rescuers, members of the White Helmets civil defence organisation which operates in opposition-held areas of Syria

The cheers become louder as volunteers lift a young girl out of the debris, dressed in a warm coat and jeans.

Soon afterwards, a young boy wearing a red jumper is pulled out of the wreckage and a rescuer lifts him above his head for a crowd of onlookers to see.

They can barely contain their smiles and cheers as the children are passed along a human chain to a waiting ambulance, where they are treated with oxygen and water.

Syrian girl rescued from damaged building in Idlib.

In Syria's Idlib province, the White Helmets are on hand to help again as a young girl is brought to safety amid cheering crowds.

Trapped inside a building which is damaged but still standing, she clings to the neck of a rescuer as he negotiates a tangle of fallen masonry and crushed railings to bring her down a staircase to street level.

A baby pulled from the ground

A baby and three people pulled out of rubble from quake debris in Türkiye.

Across the border in Türkiye, similar scenes are unfolding.

It's been 68 hours since the quake hit, and a member of an Istanbul-based rescue team has spotted something under a collapsed building in the city of Hatay.

Diving headfirst into the rubble, he is able to pull out a baby.

Under the glare of floodlights, rescuers, many wearing red with the Turkish flag on their arms, pass the barefoot, dust-covered little girl to a nearby medical aid post.

Her name is Helen. Rescuers later say she is in good health and under medical supervision after her miraculous survival.

Buried together, a family gets a second chance at life

Just under 300 kilometres away in Adiyaman province volunteers from the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish NGO, have uncovered yet another remarkable story of survival.

Among the debris, a family of four is found alive.

The family members appear tired and frail as they are brought out into the daylight.

One woman with a brace around her neck, covered in a bright pink blanket, is passed on a stretcher between IHH and military members as they take her to safety.

Onlookers watch from a nearby bridge.

More than 12,000 people are now known to have died in the earthquakes, with the toll expected to rise dramatically. For countless families, there will be no happy endings, no emotional reunions.

But rescues like these offer at least some signs of hope amid the destruction.

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