A prematurely newborn baby in India was found dumped in a pile of garbage on Thursday morning, with his umbilical cord still attached.
The incident took place in Trichy, a town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Some people who were returning from a mosque after their morning prayers heard the cries of the baby and began inspecting the area. While searching the garbage dump, the people found the baby lying on a pile of trash, The Times of India reported.
They immediately rushed the baby to a nearby health care center, where medical workers removed the child's umbilical cord and sent him to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital.
Doctors at the facility said the baby had been born prematurely and weighed 4.5 pounds. The baby was born a few hours before he was found abandoned, India Today reported. The newborn was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit in the hospital and was kept under observation.
The coordinator of a local nonprofit, named Sevai Childline, was soon informed about the incident. After visiting the child, Coordinator Ashraf Ali said the newborn needed constant medical attention.
The police launched an investigation into the incident and began questioning the locals to trace the parents of the baby. However, no one knew anything about the child's parents. The authorities are also checking CCTV cameras for footage to find who abandoned the newborn at the garbage dump.
In another recent incident, a newborn baby boy was rescued from a rooftop of a building in the northern state of Chandigarh. Local media reported the infant was left there right after his mother gave birth to the baby in a toilet. Locals spotted the baby after they heard his cries, following which he was admitted to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research where he was said to be struggling for his life. The baby's mother was traced to a civil hospital in Jagadhri. Officials said the woman was taken to the hospital, where doctors found she had given birth. She later admitted to abandoning the child on the roof of the building.
Representational image of a premature baby's foot at the Argenteuil hospital in the suburbs of Paris, July 22, 2013. Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images
