Chinese police on hunt for parents of baby boy buried alive on remote hillside
- Mushroom pickers find crying infant in a cardboard box hidden under a concrete slab
- Despite harrowing ordeal, baby’s weight has almost trebled since he was found two months ago
Authorities in east China are searching for the parents of a baby boy who was found buried alive on a remote hillside two months ago, according to a local media report.
The newborn was discovered on August 21 by a couple walking in a rural part of Jinan, Shandong province, Jinan Times reported on Sunday.
The two local residents were picking mushrooms when they heard a cry coming from an area where the earth appeared to have been recently loosened. At first they thought it might have been a trapped animal, but after removing a layer of soil they saw a cement slab covering a pit and decided the noise coming from within was definitely human.
Fearing they might be implicated in a crime, the couple called the police to report what they had found and also alerted the local community.
But before any officers arrived, the baby stopped crying, so the couple and others who had gathered at the scene agreed to remove the slab and rescue the child, the report said.
The emergency services were called and the baby was taken to hospital. Doctors there said he had probably been buried for about three hours.