Naked and blue with cold: dumped newborn baby survives Typhoon Kalmaegi
'This little guy is very strong', police say as they name the infant after a 'seagull' for braving the storm
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 17 September, 2014, 3:24pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 9:39am
Nectar Gan [email protected]
The infant was bruised and naked when it was found by a resident, and was rushed to hospital for treatment. Police named the baby Haiou. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A newborn baby that was abandoned on a filthy Dongguan riverbank managed to survive a night of Typhoon Kalmaegi’s lashing rains and winds, before he was found.
The baby, found naked and bruised with sand in his mouth, was rushed to hospital on Tuesday.
Policeman Li Xiaolong, who was called to the scene, said the child even had 20 centimetres of umbilical cord attached. Li said it was believed that the baby was born on Monday amid a downpour.
Though it would be several hours before Kalmaegi would officially make landfall in Guangdong, there were already heavy rains from the typhoon on Monday evening.
”The baby’s whole body had turned blue. [He] was shaking from the cold and crying, but couldn’t make any sound. The condition was very critical,” Li told the Southern Metropolis Daily.
The river where the boy was found was flowing with sewage and had been closed off from the surrounding factories and apartment blocks. The riverbank, infested with flies and rats, is covered in the trash thrown from apartment windows.
Residents told the newspaper that few people usually ventured near the river.
However, a woman spotted the baby from the balcony of her second-floor apartment, near a factory, at around 6am on Tuesday.
She alerted a security guard to call the police and ran to pick up the child, bringing clothes to swaddle the infant.
The baby had bruises on his head, left foot and right hand. Doctors conducted a full body check and kept him under observation for typhoid fever or pneumonia.
The baby is now in stable condition, the Daily reported.
”The little buddy is very strong,” a spokesman for the local police station said. “Because he was born the night before Typhoon Kalmaegi hit, [we] named him Haiou [“seagull” in Chinese].”
The typhoon, with wind gusts of up to 144 km/h brought floods and damage to parts of southern China, including Guangdong.
”We hope he can be healthy and happy, like a seagull soaring above the sea. [We] also hope his parents can contact us quickly after reading about the news,” the spokesman said.
The case is still under investigation. Police said the baby may be sent to a welfare home upon recovery.
Abandoning babies, especially babies with special needs, is an illegal though common practice on the mainland. The problem has become so prevalent that some cities have set up “baby hatches” where parents can safely and anonymously leave their unwanted child.
The programme, backed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, has drawn fierce criticism as some say the practice encourages parents to abandon their children.
According to earlier reports, Dongguan drew up a plan early this year to build its own baby hatch. The local welfare centre said the project was expected to be finished within this year.
