The mother of the newborn baby boy flushed down a toilet

Injured: A nurse said the baby boy - who weighs 6.2 pounds - suffered a fracture to his skull but is now in a stable conditioN

Baby's condition was said to be stable and he should recover, but his discovery - head first in a toilet waste pipe - has succeeded in outraging a country in which brutal acts against youngsters are a common occurrence

Being nursed back to health: The abandoned baby boy is pictured being fed in hospital after firefighters rescued him from a sewage pipe after he was apparently flushed down a toilet in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province

Reunited: The baby boy's mother - believed to be a 22-year-old single woman - has been found and is said to be with her baby in hospital

The mother of the newborn baby boy flushed down a toilet in China watched in secret as rescuers dramatically plucked him alive from a sewer pipe.

The 22-year-old woman is believed to have raised the initial alarm but only confessed to police after they searched her rented room and found toys and blood-stained toilet paper, the Chinese state news agency reported.

The two-day-old, 5lb boy has been temporarily named Baby 59 – the number of the incubator in which he lies with a fractured skull and severe bruising.

The rescuers then rushed the section of pipe to a hospital, where firemen and doctors alternately used pliers and saws to take it apart. 

The infant’s arms were pinned to his side and when the pipe was prised away, he let out a long wail at the Pujiang County People’s Hospital in Jinhua, eastern China. He was still attached to the placenta.

Baby 59’s condition was said to be stable and he should recover. But the incident has succeeded in outraging a country in which brutal acts against youngsters are a common occurrence.

Police initially said they were treating the case of as possible attempted homicide, but it was not immediately clear whether the mother would face any criminal charges.

A police officer said she had hidden her pregnancy and claimed the baby fell into the lavatory after she unexpectedly gave birth. ‘The woman was on the scene during the entire rescue process ... and admitted she was the mother when we asked her.’

He said police were still investigating whether she had any ‘malicious intentions’ before deciding on charges.