An abandoned newborn baby boy found
trapped inside a sewage pipe after being flushed down the toilet was
today being nursed back to health in hospital.
The
infant was heard crying in a section of the pipe directly beneath a
toilet commode, the country’s state television reported earlier today.
Firefighters had to remove the pipe and take it to a nearby hospital where doctors carefully used saws to rescue the baby boy.
Being nursed back to health: The abandoned baby
boy is pictured being fed in hospital after firefighters rescued him
from a sewage pipe after he was apparently flushed down a toilet in
Jinhua, Zhejiang Province
Reunited: The baby boy's mother - believed to be
a 22-year-old single woman - has been found and is said to be with her
baby in hospital
The infant- named Baby No. 59 from the number of his hospital incubator - was in a critical condition when he arrived at the hospital with an apparent fracture to his skull.
But the baby boy has been pictured being nursed back to health in hospital as staff reveal his condition is now stable.
Nurse
Zhang Songhe of the pediatric department of the Pujiang County People’s
Hospital in the city of Jinhua, Zhejiang province, East China, told the
Daily Mail: 'When the baby arrived here, he was in
critical condition.
'We suspect he has a fracture in the top right
section of his skull. But now everything has been stabilized.'
Injured: A nurse said the baby boy - who weighs 6.2 pounds - suffered a fracture to his skull but is now in a stable condition
Staff at the Pujiang County People's Hospital in
Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, said well-wishers have visited the hospital
with diapers, baby clothes and powered milk for the child
Recovering: The baby boy has been nicknamed number 59 after the number of his incubator
The nurse added that the mother of the baby has been found and is currently with her child in hospital.
They
said: 'The mother has been found. She is right now in the hospital. I
heard she is a 22 year-old single woman. I don't know the reason she
abandoned the baby.
Nurse Zhang Songhe added that news of the rescue prompted an
outpouring from strangers who came to the hospital with diapers, baby
clothes, powdered milk and offers to adopt the child.
The nurse continued: 'There have been
three or four groups of visitors delivering baby formula some of whom
have expressed willingness to adopt.
Harrowing: Firefighters work to free the unwanted baby from the pipe in Pujiang, Zhejiang Province, China
Fight for survival: The newborn baby was rescued by firefighters after being flushed down a toilet
At a public toilet on the fourth floor
firefighters were able to hear faint cries and, exploring further,
spotted the baby's foot deep inside the pipe
'We're going to take care of the baby. We are not sure when the baby can be discharged.'
The baby weighs 2.8 kilograms (6.2
pounds) and still had his placenta attached to his body when he was rescued, reports said.
The
disturbing case has sparked anger in China and around the world after
harrowing TV footage of the baby’s two-hour-long rescue was uploaded
onto the internet.
Residents living in a residential
building in Jinhua in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang reported
the sound of a baby crying in the public restroom on Saturday.
Unbelievably, the baby survived the ordeal, which saw him having to be cut out of a pipe
Firefighters received a call from a landlady of a
block of flats saying that she thought a baby was trapped in a toilet
pipe in the building as she had heard it crying
The landlord of the building in Pujiang
county told Zhejiang News that it was unlikely the birth took place in
the restroom because there was no evidence of blood and she was not
aware of any recent pregnancies among her tenants.
The baby was stuck in an L-shaped portion of the sewage pipe with a diameter of about 10 centimeters (3 inches).
The video shows rescuers sawing off a
section of the pipe along a ceiling that apparently was just below the
restroom.
The rescuers then rushed that section of pipe to a hospital,
where firefighters and medics alternately used pliers and saws to rip
apart the pipe and free the baby.
The firefighters worked quickly to dismantle the pipe and rescue the trapped youngster, who was heard wailing
Firefighters gently carried away the section of pipe that contained the terrified baby
His
arms had been pinned to his side, and when the confines of the pipe had
been delicately prised away, he let out a long wail - much to the
relief of doctors who were battling against the clock to rescue him.
His eyes, face and body were covered in the filth of the pipe.
There are frequent reports in Chinese
media of babies being abandoned often shortly after birth, a problem
attributed variously to young mothers unaware they were pregnant, the
birth of an unwanted girl in a society which puts greater value on boys
or China’s strict family planning rules.
There are many reports in Chinese media of
babies being abandoned, often shortly after birth, making this incident a
distressing but common occurrence
Doctors carefully cut around the sewage pipe to rescue the baby boy inside
The case has been widely discussed on
China’s Twitter-like service Sina Weibo due to the graphic nature of
the footage, with calls for the parents to be severely punished.
'The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe,' wrote one user.
It was not immediately clear how the
baby ended up in the toilet, but police said they were treating the case
as an attempted homicide. The Pujiang county police bureau said on its
official microblog account that the boy's mother has been located and
that an investigation is ongoing, but gave no further details.
Firefighters and doctors rescue an abandoned
newborn baby boy by cutting away a sewage pipe piece by piece, in this
still image taken from video, in Jinhua city, Zhejiang province May 25,
2013
People have angrily reacted to the news, demanding the parents be punished and denouncing their cruel act
The child is in a stable condition and the police are looking for his parents, Chinese state television reported
The abandoned child has been named Baby No 59 from the number of his incubator, according to reports
Nurses treat the baby, who was believed to be only a few days old when he was flushed away
DAILYMAIL
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