The Tiny Tragic Victims of Syria's Gas Horror: East Damascus Hospital says it has The Bodies of 20 Children who can't be Identified... Because They Have No Family Left
- Disturbing situation documented by local filmmaker and passed to ITV News
- Also shown is textile factory which has begun making gas masks
- News comes as Western nations prepare to attack strife-torn country
By Daily Mail UK, 27 August 2013
An east Damascus field hospital says they dealt with bodies of 20 children they can't identify because their entire families were wiped out by poison gas.
Unable to identify the dead youngsters, medical staff have taken to referring to them simply by number, with a one-month old girl known simply as 'number 14'.
They are just some of 600 patients treated at the hospital following the dawn gas attacks last Wednesday, in which an estimated 1,200 Syrian civilians were killed - many of them women and children.
Horror: Volunteer paramedic Abu Akram holds up the body of a one-month-old baby girl, dubbed 'number 14', who he and colleagues have been unable to identify
Killed: Photographs of unidentified child victims documented at the east Damascus field hospital
Nearby, a clothing factory has responded to the fear that chemical attacks could continue by beginning the production of makeshift gas masks to supply to residents.
The disturbing situation is documented in footage captured by a Syrian filmmaker and passed to ITV News, which has provided MailOnline with stills taken from the film and details of his findings.
It has emerged as Western nations announced they are drawing up plans to launch an attack on Syria that could start within days, in retaliation for atrocity which they blame on the country's government.
ITV News says
Humam Husari, which it describes as an 'independent filmmaker' interviewed Abu Akram, a volunteer paramedic working in the town of Arbin in the Ghota area of Damascus.
Mr Akram said: 'Here at the field hospital in Arbin we took in approximately 600 patients who suffered in the chemical attack. We had registered 110 deaths and approximately 35 unregistered deaths.
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'We have been unable to identify these twenty children. This young girl [points to one month old baby girl) we have named her number 14.
'We have this poor girl she was no older than a month. No-one's been able to identify her so she is unknown number 14.
'In terms of the women we have been able to identify most of them, only a few left. We have been able to identify 90 per cent of them.'
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Parents weep as they look for their children among the dead: Syria's government denies launching the attack last Wednesday. This image was released in the immediate aftermath
Grim toll: The latest images emerged as Western nations prepared to attack Syria
Mr Husari also visited a nearby textiles factory which is said to have repurposed its equipment to make gas masks in anticipation of more chemical attacks.
A man at the scene, Abu Ibrahim, whose precise role, whether manager or worker, is not explained, told the filmmaker: ''We consulted doctors on this project. They told us that coal and sodium absorbs smells and diffuses harmful chemicals... so on took their advice on this... and it should help save lives... God willing.
'We thought of the design... we saw lots of people using cloths or towels to protect themselves... so we thought there must be a better solution.
'So we started to think of design... we saw that coal is used in water filters... so we can use the same filters here... and cotton also purifies air... so all of the textiles used in it are made of cotton.'
A still from footage of a Damascus textile factory which has switched to producing makeshift gas masks in anticipation of more chemical gas attacks
He added: 'It wont be 100 per cent protective but it can be 70 per cent or 60 per cent which can help people get away from danger.'
Downing Street said today that David Cameron is considering a 'proportionate response' to the 'absolutely abhorrent' chemical weapons attack that is believed to have killed hundreds.
Meanwhile U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said today its armed forces are in place in the region and 'ready to go' should President Barack Obama order military action in Syria.
Reports in America suggest they could lead the strikes from as early as Thursday.
A decision on whether to fire missiles into Syria could be taken before the results of a report by UN weapons inspectors into the attack is produced.
Russia, a close ally of Syria, today warned a military intervention in the country could have 'catastrophic consequences' for the region and called on the international community to show 'prudence' over the crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted:
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'the West behaves towards the Islamic world like a monkey with a grenade.'
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