Newborn baby found in airplane garbage bag at Manila airport

Newborn baby found in Manila airport garbage bag

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities at Manila’s airport found a newborn baby in a garbage bag that was apparently unloaded from an airplane that landed Sunday from the Middle East, officials said.

Security officials brought the baby boy, who was covered in blood and wrapped in tissue paper, to an airport clinic, where doctors and nurses examined him and cleaned him up, wrapped him in cloth and gave him a bottle of milk, airport officials said.

“After he was cleaned, he let off a soft cry,” airport nurse Kate Calvo said. “He was healthy, his vital signs were OK according to our doctors.”

A security officer noticed something moving in a garbage bag that was reportedly unloaded from a Gulf Air plane that arrived from Bahrain and found the baby inside, an airport statement said. The baby was later turned over to social workers posted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Gulf Air officials were not immediately available for comment.

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said she was angered by what happened, adding that police have been ordered to search for the infant’s mother, who could be criminally charged.

“I was simply outraged, no infant should be treated that way,” Soliman said.

She said the baby will be turned over to the mother’s relatives or put up for adoption.

Many Filipinos are forced to work as maids and laborers abroad, including the Middle East, to escape crushing poverty and unemployment at home.