Blind boy, 8, regains sight after surgeons remove bomb shrapnel from eyes

Eight-year-old Abdulrazak Dip has got his sight back thanks to Turkish surgeons who operated on him after his eyes were damaged in a bombing in Idlib, Syria

Abdulrazak Dip has had his eyesight restored in Turkey (Image: CEN)

Turkish surgeons have returned the eyesight of an eight-year-old Syrian boy who was blinded by shrapnel during a bomb attack on his home.

Abdulrazak Dip was horrendously wounded when he was just six in a bombing attack on the city of Idlib in the north-western Syrian governorate of the same name.

A piece of shrapnel pierced his left eye, robbing him of half his sight.

Soon, his right eye began to lose vision too due to the trauma caused by the injury.

According to reports, the boy made an emotional appeal on Swiss television for Turkey to help him.

The Turkish Embassy in the Swiss capital Bern took action and got in touch with the Syrian family, with the help of the NGO 'International Blue Crescent', according to local media.

The boy was brought to a private ophthalmic hospital in Turkey where he underwent eye surgery.

Abdulrazak Dip is now able to see again thanks to an international effort
(Image: CEN)

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According to reports, the treatment helped the young boy regain his sight.

His family reportedly burst into tears at the news he could see again, after they had suffered years of hardship.

The boy’s father, Mohammad Dip, said the family did not want to leave their home country when the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.

But they were forced to take refuge in Turkey when his son lost his eyesight.

According to Turkish news site TRT World, an operation in one of Idlib’s few hospitals still functioning amid the devastating conflict had been unable to restore the boy’s eyesight.

Abdulrazak lost sight in his left eye completely and his right eye retained some vision.

He told the broadcaster: “With this eye I can see brightness. I can't see anything with the other [left] eye. With the better eye I can see things far away. But only when it is light.”

Surgeons in Turkey fixed the young boy's eyes
(Image: CEN)

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Abdulrazak’s father had been planning to take him for treatment in Turkey, but when the country closed its borders to Syria due to coronavirus travel restrictions, the family realised the window of opportunity was closing fast.

The family only had 10 to 15 days for the operation to take place as doctors in Idlib had put a silicone solution in Abdulrazak’s eyes to prevent him from going completely blind that would only last four months and was by that point close to the deadline.

The boy’s plight captured the attention of Levent Ozturk, the International Blue Crescent’s International Emergency Help Coordinator and a journalist.

Mr Ozturk lost sight in his left eye during the 2008 Georgian-Russian war after coming under gunfire in a vehicle, and said that made him all the more empathetic to the young boy’s plight.

Syrian boy Abdulrazak Dip has had life-changing surgery
(Image: CEN)

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Mr Ozturk’s team joined up with Syrian refugee Mehmet Sahin Ibis to help the family.

The Turksoy Foundation managed to get the family to Turkey, where authorities helped them get the surgery for the child just in time, and his hospital fees were covered by a businessman alerted to his plight via the IBC.

“Thank Allah, the International Blue Crescent reached us, and helped transfer my child to Turkey for treatment. They covered all expenses. Thank Allah, he can see now,”Abdulrazak’s father told the Anadolu Agency.