Newborn baby boy is rescued ALIVE from drain under courtyard after 40 hours

A mother has been arrested for trying to kill her newborn by pushing him down a drain. The two-day-old boy still had his umbilical cord attached when he was rescued from a shaft in a block of flats near Alicante. The boy in a one metre-square manhole in a courtyard where drains from the surrounding buildings converged.  It is thought the child, who was found wrapped in a plastic bag with a hole in it to let him breathe, could have been stuck there for up to 40 hours. Firefighters and police had attended the flat in the working-class Alicante neighbourhood of Virgen del Carmen at 2am this morning after a neighbour called saying they thought there was a meowing cat stuck in the drain.
The baby, who weighs 4.6lb (2.1kg), is in a serious but not-life threatening condition with a broken arm and other injuries. The 26-year-old mother, who has not been named, was escorted back to the flat yesterday afternoon by police for a scene-of-crime inspection. She has reportedly confessed to officers, saying she did not have enough money for an abortion. In a statement the Ministry said the mother was under arrest and that an investigation was under way to try and discover whether she acted alone, or if a third party could have been involved.

Reports said she had visited hospital on Friday where she told staff she had had a miscarriage.

Social services say they will investigate the newborn’s family set-up before making any decision on his future. A spokesman for Spain’s national police said: ‘The woman we have arrested is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.’ One neighbour said: ‘I thought it was a cat that was trapped and the baby’s crying was the meowing.

'The noise went on for ages so I called the police. ‘One of the firefighters saw one of his tiny feet and realised it wasn’t a cat but a child.’