Dramatic video captures moment entire family were pulled from rubble after Syria earthquake

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A Syrian family has been "miraculously" saved from underneath the rubble of their house after a devastating earthquake struck the country, rescuers said.

The Syria Civil Defence volunteer group, known as the White Helmets, said on Tuesday that it had retrieved "an entire family" buried under wreckage in the village of Bisnia, near Idlib in northwestern Syria.

"A true miracle," said the group on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. "The sounds of joy embrace the sky – joy beyond belief."

It also posted a video showing White Helmet members using power tools to remove debris and then pulling a group of people, including a child, out through a tiny opening into the daylight.

A massive crowd gathered on the surface then erupted into jubilant cheers as the family was carried into a nearby ambulance.

At least 7,266 people have been killed and another 26,400 injured in Syria and Turkey following the massive magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday, according to officials in both countries and the White Helmets.

About 75 per cent of the deaths were in Turkey, which has a long land border with Syria, making it the deadliest quake to hit the country since 1999. Officials have said the true number of casualties may be even higher.

Rescue efforts were impeded by sub-zero temperatures and nearly 200 aftershocks, which made it dangerous to search for survivors inside unstable buildings,

The White Helmets operate in parts of Syria controlled by rebel factions in the country's still-ongoing civil war, including the opposition stronghold of Idlib.

The earthquake piles yet more hardship upon nearly a decade of battles, bombardments, shortages, and disease, with nearly 4.6 million people – including many refugees from other parts of Syria – packed into the area around Idlib.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that rescuers had recovered a crying baby who was born while their mother was buried under rubble, with their umbilical cords still connected. The mother was found dead.