The photo of the “child of the Deir ez-Zor accident” raises a wide wave of sympathy

It was not only the numbers of victims that shocked observers after the tragic accident on the Damascus-Deir ez-Zor road, but rather the image of a child standing crying next to his mother’s body lying on the edge of the road, in a scene that within hours turned into the most widely shared footage on social media platforms, summarizing the scale of the human tragedy left behind by the accident.

A collision between two buses, one carrying civilians and the other carrying members of the Internal Security Forces, in the area between Sukhna and Palmyra, resulted in the deaths of at least 35 people and the injury of 30 others, according to a preliminary toll announced by the Syrian Ministry of Health, while ambulance and evacuation operations are still continuing.

The circulating footage showed the child standing in front of his mother’s body in a collapsed state, while paramedics and specialized teams were beginning to transport the injured and victims. The image turned into a symbol of the tragedy, and raised a wide wave of sympathy and calls for mercy for the victims and support for their families on social networks.

It has not yet been possible to verify the child’s identity or the details of his story.

The Syrian authorities reported that ambulance and civil defense teams rushed to the site of the accident immediately after it occurred, and helicopters belonging to the Ministry of Defense participated in medical evacuation operations and transported the injured to Homs Military Hospital, while the official authorities have not yet announced the cause of the collision.