Post date: May 30, 2013 1:18:35 PM
A landlady describes the moment she found a new-born baby which was left in a pipe under a toilet ineastern China in a case police are now calling an accident, state media reports.
JINHUA CITY, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA (MAY 25, 2013) (CCTV) - A landlady described finding a new-born baby in a sewage pipe in eastern China, in a case which police have called an 'accident,' state media reported.
The landlady, surnamed Sun, found the 2.3-kilogram baby boy in the pipe in the residential building she owns in Jinhua, a city in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang, on Saturday (May 25) afternoon, official broadcaster CCTV reported."When I came up here, I heard something, like the sound of a cat or a rabbit. I couldn't tell what it was," Sun told local media Saturday.
Police told the state-run Xinhua news agency that during questioning the baby's 22-year-old mother told them she had rushed to the toilet with stomach pains and gave birth to the baby, which slipped down the toilet hole.
The mother then raised the alarm with the landlady, and suggested she and others came to help, Xinhua quoted police reports as saying.
The woman told police she had remained quiet during the two hours it took to remove the baby because she was concerned she might lose eligibility to keep it, Xinhua said.
Footage released by the local fire department showed fire-fighters removing the pipe and taking it to a local hospital where doctors carefully cut around it to rescue the baby inside.
As of Wednesday (May 29), medical staff at the Pujiang Hospital said that the baby was recovering well.
"Right now it appears that his body's condition is stable," Pujiang Hospital head nurse Liu Junjin told local media.
The baby had suffered injuries on both feet, but was resting safely inside one of the hospital's incubators, footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed.
"His main problem is that his two feet have been injured, and we just need to prevent an infection. Otherwise, his other symptoms are OK," said Liu.
"As the nurse understands, this baby's body has already basically recovered, and we feel very happy. At the same time, we hope from now on that this baby can have a peaceful and safe life and will be healthy," a member of the local fire department told local media.
Local police confirmed with Reuters by telephone on Thursday (May 30) afternoon that the baby had been taken from the hospital on Wednesday evening by police officers and its maternal grandparents to a rural location.