[UPDATED] Toilet Pipe Baby Goes Home, Mom Not Charged
A newborn baby who was rescued from a sewer pipe in China has been returned to his mother. Authorities have decided the infant became trapped in the pipe underneath a squat toilet in Pujiang county as the result of an accident and so the 22-year-old woman will face no charges. The boy's rescue became a worldwide sensation after footage of the two-hour procedure to cut him from a section of piping was broadcast. (Warning graphic content)
By Sadho Ram — 28 May 2013, 06:49 PM — Updated over 11 years ago
UPDATE: Toilet pipe baby goes home with grandparents, mom faces no criminal charges
A Chinese newborn who was rescued from a sewer pipe has been released to his family and his mother is unlikely to face criminal charges because authorities concluded he fell into the toilet after his birth accidentally, local officials and media reports said
The boy, who suffered minor injuries, but was said to be healthy, was discharged on Wednesday night and the grandparents took him home.
independent.ie
They have tracked down a man believed to be the father of the baby. He has requested a paternity test and, if the infant is his, is ready to discuss with the mother how to support the child. It is not known if the pair will raise the child together.
yahoo.comThe tragic truth: Woman who reported newborn in pipe is the mother. Watched the 2-hour rescue, says it was an accident
The mother's reported confession raises questions about whether she intended to abandon the baby, while suggesting that she was desperate and did not know what to do. The woman did not reveal the pregnancy to her parents and also said she wanted to raise the child but had no idea how to do it, according to local reports.
Image via wordpress.comA 22-year-old woman who raised the initial alarm about a newborn trapped in a sewer pipe in China kept quiet about being his mother even as she watched the sensational two-hour rescue unfold, reports said on Wednesday.
dawn.comShe did not admit giving birth until confronted by police, reports said, but officials have now claimed they fear the distraught new mother may try to take her own life.
express.co.uk
Police became suspicious when they found baby toys and blood-stained toilet paper in the young woman's rented room, in the building where Saturday's rescue occurred in eastern China, local media has reported.
thereporter.comThe woman, whose name has not been revealed, confessed to police when they asked her to undergo a medical checkup. The scared woman, who is reportedly a high school graduate who works at a restaurant, told police she could not afford an abortion and secretly delivered the child in the toilet
She claimed she tried to catch the baby boy but he slipped into the sewer line before the she ran to alert her landlord of the trapped baby after she could not pull him out, the state-run, Jinhua-based Zhezhong News said.
metro.co.uk
Reports have said the young woman only realised she was carrying the baby three months into her pregnancy and she subsequently attempted to conceal her pregnancy by using loose-fitting clothes and confronted the baby's father.
newser.com
He rejected her appeals for help, she told police. Mr Fang, the public security official, said local police were still searching for the baby's father, who is reported to have refused to acknowledge paternity of the child.
Gallery: The baby who was plucked ALIVE from a toilet pipe after being flushed away, is safe and warm
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
Image via dailymail.co.uk
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
Image via dailymail.co.uk
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
Image via dailymail.co.uk
Recovering: The baby boy has been nicknamed number 59 after the number of his incubator
Image via dailymail.co.ukSafe and warm: Baby being nursed back to health
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
Image via dailymail.co.ukThe 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.
spyghana.com
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
Image via dailymail.co.ukThe 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 told the Daily Mail: 'When the baby arrived here, he was in critical condition.
dailymail.co.ukThe 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.
examiner.com
A newborn baby was rescued from a sewage pipe after his parents flushed him down the toilet
Pasukan penyelamat terpaksa memotong paip berkenaan dan membawanya bersama-sama bayi itu ke hospital berhampiran.
terbakor.comFirefighters in east China's Zhejiang Province rescued a newborn infant from sewage pipe on Saturday afternoon. The infant was found in the toilet sewage pipe in a residential building in the city of Jinhuaat around 17:00 in the afternoon.
Attempts to pull him out failed, so rescuers sawed away a section of the pipe with the baby inside and took him to a local hospital.
abc.net.auThe child is in a stable condition and the police are looking for his parents, state television added. 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.
heraldsun.com.au
There are often cases of abandonment of newborns in China due to its strict one-child policy and the status of girls in society. But this incident involved a boy and it was in the wealthy coastal city of Jinhua.
newstalk.ieThe problem is 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.
dailymail.co.ukIn pics: Newborn baby being rescued from sewage pipe (Warning graphic content)
Rescued: The pipe is cut away to free the screaming infant, who is wedged in tight
Image via dailymail.co.uk
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
Image via dailymail.co.uk
Rescuers try to reach a trapped infant inside a piece of sewage pipe, in this still image taken from video, in Jinhua city, Zhejiang province May 25, 2013
Image via dailymail.co.uk
A workman cuts away the sewage pipe to rescue the screaming child, carefully ensuring he does not injure it
Image via dailymail.co.ukWhat the social media users are saying to the parents who did it
The news triggered hundreds of thousands of comments on China's hugely popular social media site Weibo, with users expressing good wishes for the baby and fury at those who presumably abandoned him.
abc.net.au'The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe,' wrote one user.
dailymail.co.ukWith another user writing: "I can never accept or forgive the behaviour of dumping the baby with his placenta and umbilical cord attached into the toilet pipe."
digitaljournal.com"Can these people be called human beings? The animal to human ratio among the grown-ups is rising inexorably. Seeing the little one wriggling and groaning as the pipe was torn apart bit by bit wrings my heart."
abc.net.au