Photographer Abd Alkader Habak was capturing the aftermath of a bus explosion in Syria when he realized he needed to do something more. In an image that has already become iconic, Habak is shown placing his camera aside and running with a wounded child in his arms.
Habak, who was briefly knocked unconscious by the blast, awoke to find himself surrounded by carnage. After snapping a few quick photos, Habak and his colleagues began checking on people. He said the wailing children pushed them into action.
He found one child who was dead. The next one was still breathing. Habak picked the child up and rushed him to safety. He said later the child held his hand the entire time, completely trusting him. He guessed the boy’s age to be about seven and left him at an ambulance for medical treatment. Habak did not know if the boy lived or not.
He immediately returned to the bombing site and found yet another dead child. This caused him to fall to the ground and sob, which was also captured in a photo. Habak later told CNN that he and the other journalists were overwhelmed by emotion, and what they had seen that day was beyond description.