Grisly: The remains of a dead baby discovered at the abandoned pathology lab in Tobolsk, Siberia

Police in Russia are investigating an abandoned pathology lab where mummified remains of babies have been discovered by shocked locals.

Officers have launched a probe into the grisly discovery of body parts, including bones and human organs left scattered around the run-down facility in Tobolsk, western Siberia.

Scars were visible on many of the bodies of the babies, showing where surgical procedures had been carried out, some as recently as three years ago, according to the Siberian Times.

The horrifying and macabre discovery was made by medical student Georgy Grigorchuk from Tobolsk, who had been walking in a park frequented by children when he saw a building with an open door.

Entering the facility, he saw jars containing remains, used slides from blood tests, and skulls lying on dusty shelves, it was reported.

Plastic jars had dates written on the side, including January 2012.

'I learned about this place from other students of my medical college,' he said.

'I heard that in this laboratory were a lot of abandoned interesting things.

'Namely, some books lying around, organs in glass jars, all sorts of documents. It was very interesting for a medical student.'

Horrific: What appear to be the remains of a young child in a jar found in the abandoned building. Scars were visible on the bodies of similar babies discovered, showing where surgical procedures had been carried out

Abandoned: The run-down building was in a state of disrepair, but some plastic jars had dates written on the side as recent as January 2012

Police probe: Tobolsk state prosecutor's office has begun looking into the horror amid suspicions of violations of the law on disposal of human remains and medical documents by the former laboratory

Chance discovery: Medical student Georgy Grigorchuk from Tobolsk saw the building's door open and decided to venture inside

Macabre: Jars containing remains littered the dusty shelves of the facility which was discovered in a park

Mr Girgorchuk alerted local journalists to the fact human remains had been left in the disused laboratory, which has a morgue attached to it.

He passed his discovery to local news agency Tobolsk.info and the resulting report highlighting the 'withered corpses' of babies caused a scandal, causing shock and anger among the local population.

Beside the human remains were documents detailing the medical histories of dead patients and the nature of the procedures carried out, as well as family names and other personal information.

The facility had been used for post-mortems until this work was moved to a new building at a nearby hospital.

After the newspaper reports the door of the facility was nailed shut but the human remains were still inside, according to Grogorchuk.

Tobolsk state prosecutor's office began a probe into the horror amid suspicions of violations of the law on disposal of human remains and medical documents by the former laboratory.

It is not known if the authorities have contacted the parents of dead children identified in the medical records.

Unclean: Used slides from blood tests were among the ghoulish finds at the abandoned pathology lab

Dusty: Georgy Grigorchuk, who found the lab, said: 'It was very interesting for a medical student'