Newborn baby boy is rescued ALIVE from drain under courtyard after 40 hours: Mother 'who could not afford abortion' is arrested by Spanish police



Two-day-old found wrapped in plastic bags under manhole cover in Alicante



Baby may have been there for 40 hours only found after neighbour called firefighters because they thought a meowing cat was stuck

Mother, 26, went to hospital on Friday saying she had had a miscarriage

She has been arrested and has told officers she could not afford an abortion



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 when he was rescued from a shaft in a block of flats near Alicante.

The horrific discovery came after a neighbour took his crying for a cat meowing and phoned police to say an animal was trapped.

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Safe now: The baby in the arms of a rescue worker. The two-day-old, who still had his umbilical cord attached, was rescued from a drain in Spain after a 40-hour ordeal

Survivor: The baby suffered a broken arm and other injuries but they are not thought to be life-threatening

The baby, weighing 4lb 8oz, was wrapped inside a plastic bag that had a hole in it to let him breathe.

Spanish police say they believe the child may have been abandoned at birth, spending nearly 40 hours in the drain before he was rescued. He was taken to hospital with injuries including a broken arm.

His condition last night was described as serious but not life-threatening. His mother, who is 26, was arrested in the hospital to which she had been admitted on Friday after telling doctors she had had a miscarriage.

She 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.

A woman, 26, is led away after she was arrested for trying to kill the newborn by pushing him down a drain

A view of the Alicante apartment building where a newborn baby was rescued after his mother allegedly threw him down a drainpipe

City: The two-day-old baby was recovered from a drain in Alicante, Spain (file photo)

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.’

Police were called at around 2am yesterday morning to the flat in the working-class Alicante neighbourhood of Virgen del Carmen.

The mother and her baby, who is being looked after in the city’s general hospital post-natal intensive care unit, have not been named.

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.’