WATCH: Little Girl Live-Tweeting From Aleppo Speaks to CNN Before Major Bombing
In early October, we brought you news of Bana Alabed, a seven-year-old girl who has been tweeting her experiences from Aleppo, Syria. Aided by her mother Fatemah, the girl has been using modest English to tell the world about the bombings that have rocked her neighborhood and the ways she and other kids have tried to move forward with their lives. She captured the attention of J.K. Rowling a few weeks ago and some retweets from the author launched her platform higher until her Twitter account mysteriously disappeared. After #WhereIsBana trended, her account returned for a few days, but a few hours ago, these messages appeared:
Final message – I am very sad no one is helping us in this world, no one is evacuating me & my daughter. Goodbye.- Fatemah #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 12, 2016
Final message – people are dying since last night. I am very surprised I am tweeting right now & still alive. – Fatemah #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 12, 2016
My dad is injured now. I am crying.-Bana #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 12, 2016
My name is Bana, I’m 7 years old. I am talking to the world now live from East #Aleppo. This is my last moment to either live or die. – Bana
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 13, 2016
Obviously, the tweets line up with reports from this morning that the situation in East Aleppo has worsened dramatically. The New York Times ran with the headline, “‘A Complete Meltdown of Humanity’: Civilians Die in Fight for Eastern Aleppo.”
Just yesterday, though, CNN was posting and promoting this Skype interview with the mother and daughter:
7-year-old Bana Alabed and her mom Fatemah speak to CNN exclusively about the horrors of life in war-torn Aleppo https://t.co/2r4A3EkX6M pic.twitter.com/de8yCEGxLR
— CNN (@CNN) December 12, 2016
Bana and Fatemah appeared via Skype from an undisclosed location and explained why they use English to communicate with their audience as well as why they are no longer determined to stay in their home.
They expressed a hope that someone would evacuate them soon.
There has been no activity on the Twitter account for eight hours.
[image: screengrab]
