12 heartbreaking photos that have brought millions of people to tears

    12 heartbreaking photos that have brought millions of people to tears

These are the most heartbreaking images ever taken, capturing the cruelest moments of real life, making viewers' hearts ache and tears in their eyes.

A picture is worth a thousand words. And sometimes, a picture contains a thousand tears, a broken heart, a broken soul, or a cry for help from people who can't speak for themselves.

Cameras have allowed humans to capture some of the most magical, heartwarming,…, but also cruelest moments. Here are 12 of the most heartbreaking photos ever taken.

1. Syrian girl

Usually the kids run away, hide their faces or smile when they see the camera. Not a single child is exposed to a gun and even fewer children are aware of the consequences of using a gun.

That is why, when a photo of a Syrian girl raising her hands in fear when she saw the camera lens - thinking it was a gun, was posted, shocked the whole society. Photographer Osman Sağırlı took the picture at the Atmeh refugee camp in Syria. Sadly, 4-year-old Hudea isn't the only Syrian child accustomed to the ravages of gunfire and the brutality of war.

2. The face of hunger

Famine in Henan (China) lasted from the summer of 1942 to the spring of 1943, claiming the lives of 2-5 million people and causing 4 million people to have to be displaced for food. It is the combined consequences of war, drought and epidemics raging in the region.

Journalist Theodore White (USA) has reported directly that many people are committing suicide and parents have to sell their children for less than 10 USD. A picture of a starving man desperately gnawing at the bark of a tree outside the British embassy has been captured.

3. Courage and grace

On November 13, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupted, obliterating the town of Armero, killing more than 20,000 out of a population of 29,000. One of the victims of the Armero tragedy was 13-year-old Omayra Sanchez, whose legs were trapped under a brick wall when volcanic mud flooded the house. Unable to perform a safe and freeing amputation for Omayra, doctors and rescuers said the most humane thing was to keep her calm and let her die.

Hours before her death, after being trapped for 60 hours, photographer Frank Fournier arrived and took the now-famous Omayra photograph. The photo was named World Press Photo of the Year and is a haunting reminder of the second deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

4. The helpless father

At first glance, the photo looks like a regular man sitting on the porch and looking at something. But the "something" is what remains of the human being: a foot and a hand. In fact, they belong to this man's 5-year-old daughter Boali.

The girl was killed by the supervisors of the India - England - Belgium Rubber Company. The man failed to meet his daily rubber quota; His wife was also killed. Whatever the era and society, that act represents barbarism in its most naked form.

5. Gratitude

The picture shows a 12-year-old Brazilian boy, Diego Frazão Torquato, playing the violin at his teacher's funeral. Brother Evandro Silva was the man who helped Diego escape poverty and violence. He was killed in a mafia robbery in October 2009. Sadly, Diego, who had suffered from leukemia since the age of 4, passed away the following year from complications after having his appendix removed.

6. Human cruelty

When human cruelty, ignorance and greed know no bounds, this is the result. Pictured here is one of the zoo's "strange attractions" - a Filipino girl with her hands tied to a log. From the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such inhumane "exhibits" could be found in Paris, Hamburg, Barcelona, ​​London, Milan and New York. This picture was taken more than a century ago.

7. Homeless

It is the suffering of children that awakens our deepest suffering and protective instincts. CIWEM Environmental photographer Chan Kwok Hung's “Homeless” photograph in 2011 is a perfect example of that. In Kathmandu - the capital of Nepal, he took a picture of two homeless children living on the street. Every day, the two brothers go to a nearby scrap yard and look for anything of value to sell.

8. A brother's love

What a Japanese boy shows when taking his deceased brother for cremation is not only love but also the courage and poise of a man several times his age. Photographer Joe O'Donnell was at the scene where the people who died in the Nagasaki bombing were cremated, took this image and talked about what happened after they placed the dead child from the pile. fire: “The boy stood there motionless, looking at the flames. He bit his lower lip so hard it bled. The fire burns lower like the setting sun. The boy turned his back and quietly walked away.

9. To kill yourself

This July 1913 photo by French photographer Albert Kahn shows a young Mongolian woman trying to free herself from a wooden crib. Because she was accused of adultery, she was imprisoned until she died of starvation. The bowls in front of her were initially filled with water and she had to beg. However, the end result is death, even if the process can be lengthy. This inhuman method of punishment was practiced in Mongolia until the early 20th century.

10. Bloody Saturday

On August 28, 1937, photographer H. S. Wong captured a picture of a crying baby right after the Japanese Air Force bombed the Shanghai train station. It was an attack on civilians, killing 1,500 people. Immediately after the bombing, a man was walking through the rubble and rescuing the victims. The child in the photo was the first person he saved.

11. Reality of our times

In March 1993, while on a United Nations mission in Africa, photographer Kevin Carter captured a picture that earned him the Pulitzer Prize. While photographing starving victims, Carter came across a toddler who was limping, collapsing to the ground from hunger. Lurking behind is a vulture waiting to prey on the baby.

Carter photographed the scene and chased the vulture away. After taking some pictures, Kevin sat under the tree and cried. Four months later, photographer Kevin committed suicide. Part of his suicide note reads: “I am haunted by vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain… of children starving, or being love…".

12. “The Most Heartbreaking Photo”

Most people are familiar with the image of 3-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey on September 2, 2015. The boy drowned while escaping the war in Syria with his Kurdish family. On their journey across the Aegean Sea to Greece, their overcrowded boat capsized. Twelve people, including several children, drowned. The photo was published in the media and is considered "The Most Heartbreaking Photo", once again reminding the world of the horror and despair of war.

Hopefully war, hunger and poverty will be eliminated so we don't have to witness these heartbreaking photos!