Newborn baby rescued from drain in Spain, mother arrested
A newborn baby who’s mother is HIV positive is checked by a nurse before being given antiretroviral drugs.
A woman was arrested in eastern Spain on Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder after her newborn baby was rescued from inside a building's drain.
The two-day-old baby boy was found wrapped in plastic bags in the manhole of the building's courtyard with his umbilical cord still attached after a neighbor called firefighters for what he thought was a meowing cat trapped in the drain.
At 2.1kg (4.6lbs), the baby is said to be in serious but not life-threatening condition after being trapped for around 40 hours. He is said to have suffered a fracture to a bone in his arm and other injuries that have yet to be detailed.
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His 26-year-old mother is being held in the city of Alicante, where police have determined that she lived in the building where the baby was found. She was admitted to Alicante's General Hospital on June 21, where she told medical staff she had a miscarriage.
When police arrived to question her, she reportedly said that she had tried to get rid of the baby because she did not have enough money to pay for an abortion.
Authorities are still trying to determine if she acted alone or if a third party was involved in leaving the baby in the building's communal drain system.