Villagers found a dead newborn dumped in Sai Kung yesterday. The girl's body was in a plastic bucket that was normally used to store charcoal. An 18-year-old woman was being held by police last night for questioning after investigations into the gruesome find. It is not known what her relationship to the baby is. A foul smell alerted residents in Kwun Mun Fisherman Village in Tui Min Hoi, Sai Kung, to the body yesterday afternoon. The body, with its umbilical cord still attached, was discovered inside a black plastic bag in the bucket outside a two-storey village house. Police forensics officers unwrapped the plastic bag and placed the decomposing body on the ground, covering it with a tent. A postmortem examination will be conducted tomorrow but the baby is likely to have been dead for several days. A Mr Chan, who lives with his family in the village house outside which the corpse was found, said the bucket had been used to store charcoal and had a plastic cover. 'The charcoal might have absorbed the smell. We only noticed when we removed the cover,' Mr Chan said. He said most villagers put similar buckets outside their houses and anyone could have put the baby inside. The Wong Tai Sin district crime squad was still investigating the case last night. Officers from the Police Tactical Unit interviewed villagers about the dead baby and distributed questionnaires. Police have appealed to the child's next of kin to come forward. Members of the public who may have information can contact police on 2352 9460. In June, a 31-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly throwing her newborn son out the window of her public-housing flat in Tuen Mun. That baby, with its umbilical cord still attached, was found dead on the ground outside Ting Hong House.
