Newborn baby rescued from a drain

A newborn baby slowly dying in minus 16C temperatures has been rescued just minutes before death after its parents abandoned it in a drain.

The child was left without so much as a rag as it became stiff and blue while enduring freezing temperatures overnight.

The newborn’s gender was not identified in reports from Ordos, one of 12 major cities in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where the child was found lying in a pool of excrement.

Passers-by were reported to have discovered the child and initially thought it was dead before a brave policeman jumped in the drain to fish it out.

The infant was covered in blood and had already turned blue from the extreme winter cold, and it was rushed to hospital with fading vital signs.

A video of the moment when the policeman fishes the baby out of the cesspool shows how passers-by quickly wrap the hapless tot in a blanket to keep him warm.

Fortunately the baby was found in the nick of time and doctors were able to stabilise the newborn’s condition.

It is currently unclear why the parents decided to abandon their child, with police now searching for them in the neighbourhood, and appealing for help from the public.