A four-year-old girl survived for FIVE HOURS alone in the sea - clinging inside the upturned hull of a migrant boat that capsized in the Mediterranean.

Syrian refugee Sydrah Najib made a miraculous escape after rescue workers discovered her crying in the pitch black air-lock between the capsized craft and icy cold water.

Harrowing footage of the rescue mission shows the child, suffering from hypothermia, being looked after by medics and wrapped in a huge blanket, while frightened migrants were pulled from the sea.

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Miracle: Against the odds Sydrah Najib was found clinging inside the upturned hull of a migrant boat that sized in the Mediterranean. She was one of 70 Syrian migrants that were travelling from Turkey to Greece

Injured: The little girl suffered shock and hypothermia but rescue workers say it was a miracle she survived

The video also shows medics frantically pummeling the chest of one of the people pulled from the sea, desperately trying to save their life.

Rescue workers said it was a 'sheer miracle' that Sydrah was able to survive for so long trapped under the boat.

The four-year-old and her family were among 70 refugees crammed on a tiny craft intended for just 25 passengers, part of yet another group of Syrian migrants fleeing Turkey to Greece.

The group piled aboard the tiny vessel in the early hours of Tuesday morning in an attempt to slip unnoticed past the Turkish authorities who, they feared, would turn them back.

According to reports the refugees had managed to paddle more than half the three mile stretch of water between Turkey and the Greek Island of Kos, before their boat started to sink.

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The captain of a passing yacht summoned the emergency services and the Turkish coast guard scrambled six boats and an air-sea rescue helicopter to the scene in minutes.

The coastguard plucked 65 refugees from the water, and continued to search for the remaining five refugees unaccounted for, including Sydrah.

Turkish coastguards and lifeboatmen trawled the choppy waters of the Mediterranean for several hours – calling in divers to help them in the search for the missing child, as her father waited anxiously for news.

Scared: 65 people were rescued during the operation, which took place in the pitch black, but two people died

Helpless: Turkish coastguards scrambled six boats and an air-sea rescue helicopter to rescue the refugees

Lifeboat volunteer and diver Unat Ozen, 34, was among a team of divers who discovered the bodies of two drowned refugees below the hull.

As he continued to search for bodies Unat heard the faint cries of a child coming from inside the hull. He swam back inside the upturned boat which was bobbing in the water and was astonished to find Sydrah alive, cold and frightened clinging inside.

'When I surfaced into the airlock I just couldn't believe it – it was a miracle', he told MailOnline.

'She was there clinging on for dear life. She was clearly frightened and in shock, and suffering from hypothermia – but she was alive.'

His boss, life-boat co-ordinater Omer Karacoler, added: 'When the news that she was alive came across the VHF radio every man on the boat wept with relief .

Mission: The Turkish coastguards were alerted to the disaster when a yacht passed the migrant boat

Aid: Sydrah Najib spent the night in Ozel Bodrum Hospital in Turkey to be treated for hypothermia and shock

'It's indescribable – a sheer miracle how she had the tenacity to survive alone for so long in the sea.'

The coast-guard raced back to the shore to deliver Sydrah to her father and a waiting ambulance.

Sydrah's father broke down at the news – thanking God for saving his child – before she was whisked to the Ozel Bodrum Hospital.

She was treated for hypothermia and kept in hospital overnight, before being sent home with her parents.

Interviewed on the quayside one of the lifeboatmen involved in the rescue said: 'After rescuing the survivors we continued to search for those missing. It was almost 7am when divers went down and discovered two bodies in the water not far from the capsized boat.

'As they went down a second time they heard cries coming from inside the upturned hull. We can only imagine that the brave little girl survived by breathing the bubble of air trapped inside the boat.'

Desperate: A young refugee wearing a head scarf is helped to safety by the Turkish coastguards in the dark

Help: The coastguards plucked 65 refugees from the water before continuing their search for survivors

Perilous: The refugees had managed to paddle more than half the three mile stretch of water between Turkey and the Greek Island of Kos, hoping to reach a better life in Europe, before their boat started to sink

Sydrah's rescue has buoyed beleaguered Turkish rescue workers who are trawling the waters of the Mediterranean daily, rescuing the legions of Syrian refugees attempting to reach Europe.

Mr Karacoler, who heads the volunteer life-boat crews explained that their volunteer organisation is crewed by local men who work near the water, fishermen, marina staff and boat crews.

He said: 'We assist the Turkish coast-guard and at the moment are working flat out trying to save refugees who set out for Greece completely unprepared.

'On Tuesday the life-boat men had helped to pluck 65 survivors who were floundering in the water when the boat went down.

'We also pulled the dead bodies of four, as yet unidentified, adults from the sea.

'We believe the refugees set sail at 2.30am and sank about an hour later. We were on the scene in ten minutes and worked tirelessly for several hours rescuing the survivors from the water.

Rescued: Two exhausted young girls wept and trembled as they were pulled to safety from their capsized boat

Crammed: 70 refugees from Syria had squashed onto the small boat, which was only suppose to seat 25

'It was only when they were all accounted for that we realised Sydrah and four others were still missing.

'The boats continued to search the water as our divers began to search for them below the surface,

'It was almost 7.00am by then and we never dreamed anyone would still be alive.

'It is just a miracle, an unbelievable miracle and has made all of us glad to be part of it.

'Sadly this is not the end of our task as thousands more refugees are waiting to take their chance on their water every night.'

The survivors never made it to Greece and many have already been sent back to Mardin, a city in the east of Turkey.

A 26-year-old Syrian man, named only as Ahmad H, has been arrested in connection with organising the migrant boat, and is currently being questioned by Turkish police in Bodrum.