Newborn baby found in sewage pipe in China leaves hospital

A newborn baby from the eastern province of Zhejiang – was found on Saturday afternoon lodged in a drain underneath a communal lavatory.

Following a dramatic rescue operation that lasted nearly two hours and was captured on camera, the baby was freed and nicknamed Baby 59 after its incubator in Zhejiang's Pujiang People's Hospital.

On Thursday morning, a hospital official who declined to be named, told The Daily Telegraph the child had now been released. "We just know that the family came yesterday, accompanied by county public security officers, and took away the baby," he said.

State media reported that the boy had been released from the hospital into the custody of his maternal grandparents.

On Wednesday it emerged that the mother had told police the baby had "accidentally" slipped into the toilet after she secretly gave birth inside a communal lavatory in the building where she lived in the city of Jinhua.

The woman said she had been forced to conceal her pregnancy after the father, with whom she had had a one-night stand, refused to offer her support.

The baby's mother is reportedly still being investigated by police but the state-run Global Times newspaper on Thursday claimed she would "probably not face charges".