A newborn Chinese girl is alive after being rescued Sunday from a sewer pipe in a college dormitory in China's eastern Shandong province, according to NBC News.
Firefighters were called to the scene at Linyi University after the baby's screams were heard near a toilet, local news agency Xinhua reported according to the station. A video of the gruesome rescue was uploaded on YouTube on Wednesday. Reports say the mother gave birth on Sunday.
The newborn had to be cut from the pipe because firefighters could not reach her from the toilet. She was taken to Fei Xian People's Hospital in stable condition, the station reported.
As of Wednesday the baby's condition was not clear and police did not release any more information about the case. But hospital staff did confirm the mother, a student at the university, was at the hospital until Wednesday, according to NBC News.
NBC's attempts to reach the university were unsuccessful.
Sunday's incident comes a year after a two-day-old boy was rescued from a sewer pipe in a residential building in Zhejiang province. Firefighters had to walk one floor down to cut the pipe from below because the baby was too far down the toilet, MSN News reported.
Baby abandonment cases have been blamed on China's one-child-policy, implemented decades ago to tackle its growing population. The one-child rule was relaxed last year, with provinces and cities allowing some couples to have a second child if a parent is an only child, according to The Indian Express.
But there are still occasions where newborns are abandoned, in particular baby girls. China is already facing a shortage of women fueled by a traditional preference for boys who grow up to carry on the family.
Chinese sociologists fear that a continuation of the gender bias will lead to 30 million more men of marrying age than women by 2020.
