Mother of a newborn rescued from a toilet pipe on Saturday afternoon in China was found by local police and is being investigated.
The baby boy was saved Saturday in the Chinese city of Jinhua in the wealthy coast province of Zhejiang, state television said late on Monday. The infant is reported to be in stable condition and remains in the hospital in an incubator.
“Local police have found the mother. She deeply regrets what she did. Details of the case are still under investigation,” local police said on social media website Weibo.
According to police, one of the firefighters involved visited the baby and sent clothes, formula powder and diapers. Another person sent milk bottles and formula, along with a note that read: “Don’t let the baby starve. Let’s pray,” they said.
Neighbors heard cries from a fourth-floor apartment toilet and saw a tiny foot inside a ceramic bowl. According to CCTV, they called the fire department.
Unable to pull the newborn out, rescuers went to the floor below and sawed away a section of pipe, the CNN reports. Despite sawing off the pipe, the baby was still stuck, so the entire section of pipe with the baby inside was brought to the hospital.
The CCTV video showed rescuers and doctors removing the pipe, piece by piece, until the face of the newborn is revealed.
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.
