After 5-yr-old's image goes viral, Russia responds to ceasefire call

Moscow, Aug 19: Russia on Thursday (Aug 18) said it was ready to respond to a call given by the United Nations for weekly ceasefires for Aleppo, the war-devastated city in Syria, after a haunting image of a young boy's rescue following a deadly airstrike shook the world's conscience, AP reported. [News reader cries while reporting on Aleppo child]

The image showing a traumatised Omran Daqneesh, five, sitting in an ambulance with dust and blood all over him, became viral on social media. Soon after the boy's rescue, his family's damaged house completely gave in.

The boy, who survived the onslaught, was identified by a doctor and brought to the hospital known as "M10" on Wednesday (Aug 17) night in the wake of the air strike by Russian jets on Qaterji, the neighbourhood held by rebels. Omran sustained head injuries but his brain was unharmed.

Rescue workers and media personnel arrived soon after the strike and pulled out victims from the rubble.

"We were passing them from one balcony to the other," AP quoted photojournalist Mahmoud Raslan, who took Omran's photo, as saying. He was handed the boy and he passed him to a rescue worker who took him to a nearby ambulance.

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