The Chinese baby that was rescued from a sewage pipe fell in accidentally, the baby’s mother has said.
The mother, who has not been named, reportedly told police she unexpectedly gave birth on the toilet and that the baby slipped in to the sewer.
She is reported to have raised the initial alarm, despite not admitting it was her baby until later.
The baby is currently recovering in hospital after being cut free from the pipe in Jinhua city on Saturday.
China’s Zhezhong News reported that the 22-year old mother told police she could not afford an abortion. She was unmarried and kept her pregnancy secret, police told AFP news agency.
She said she tried to catch the baby after unexpectedly giving birth, but that he slipped into the sewer. She then alerted her landlord, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The mother did not think she could afford to look after the baby, so she did not tell anyone that the baby was hers, reports Xinhua. She went to work after he had been rescued and only admitted the baby was hers when confronted by police later.
Police are continuing to investigate whether the incident was an accident or the result of a deliberate act, reports Xinhua.
