Chinese newborn flushed down toilet - rescued ALIVE from sewer

A flushed newborn's cries could be heard coming from the sewer by passerby's.

A newborn baby has survived being flushed down a toilet by his mother shortly after she gave birth in north-west China. A passerby heard the little boy's cries from a sewer in Suide County, in Shaanxi Province, and called emergency services who found him lying in a pool of filthy water.The boy, nicknamed Xiaoxiao, meaning 'teeny tiny', survived the ordeal with just a few scratches, and is now recovering in hospital while police attempt to find his mother.

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"It was really a race against time because somebody could have flushed something down the sewer again at any stage, or the baby might have turned over and ended up face first in the filthy water and drowned," Suide County fire department squad leader Li Zhi said. "But we didn't want to smash the pipe because we thought that might also hurt or even kill the baby. So we had to use a mixture of tools in order to ease him towards the opening and then pull him out. He still had the umbilical cord attached and it had obviously been clumsily cut." The newborn was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was cleaned and fed, but otherwise did not need further medical care.

Newborn baby Xiaoxiao was unharmed and is now being tended to by local emergency services. The police continue the search for his mother.

Doctors say Xiaoxiao is perfectly healthy and they do not expect him to suffer any complications as a result of his rough start in life.

Attending physician Li Zhiping said: "The child survived the ordeal surprisingly unscathed. I can't think of any similar case where a child survived being effectively flushed down the toilet." Xiaoxiao is being taken care of by members of the fire department who have volunteered to be his temporary parents while an investigation begins to determine how he ended up the sewer.

Police say they have started a search for the mother of the child, and added that it was not the first time that an unwanted child had been abandoned in such a way.They have launched appeal for help in tracking down the mother, who may be in need of medical care after the birth.However, if the mother is found, she will face possible child abuse and neglect charges.

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