Firefighters in an eastern Chinese province rescued a an apparently-abandoned newborn infant from a sewage pipe after neighbors reported hearing crying. Officials in China’s Zhejiang Province rescued the infant on Saturday afternoon.

Reports from Chinese media indicated the baby was found in the toilet sewage pipe in a residential building in the city of Jinhua after residents on the fourth floor called the fire department with reports of a baby crying.

“Local firefighters soon rushed to the site to rescue the infant, who was later found, a newborn boy with his placenta uncut,” CNN reports. “After cutting down the sewage pipe, firefighters sent the infant, still covered by the pipe, to the nearest Pujiang County Hospital where they took away the pipe piece by piece with the help of doctors, using a saw and pincer pliers.”

“The rescue operation took almost an hour. And the infant is now in stable condition,” CNN continued.

Pro-life advocate Patty Garza noticed the news and commented on the incident.

“Thank God people heard the baby crying and they were able to locate him in the sewer pipe alive,” she said. “How cruel and evil can people be. Of course this is China where forced abortions are common and families are limited to two children each unless given permission to have another.”

“This was a little boy, which are considered wanted in China where gendercide is common among female infants, but not if you already have two children. How sad that anyone could do something like this to hide their pregnancy/newborn and leave them for dead. May he live a long and healthy life and find a loving,forever family despite having to grow up in China,” Garza continued.