Firefighters in eastern China have rescued an abandoned newborn baby boy lodged in a sewer pipe directly beneath a toilet, state television has reported. The case sparked anger on social media sites.
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 that puts greater value on boys, or to China's strict family planning rules.
In the latest case the infant was found in the pipe in a residential building in Jinhua in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday afternoon after residents reported the sound of a baby crying, state television said late on Monday.
