Woman Rescues Abandoned Newborn Baby From Storm Drain

This is the shocking moment an abandoned newborn baby was rescued from a storm water drain in India's Chennai district.

The disturbing footage, captured by a local onlooker, shows the tiny baby being pulled from the drain with its umbilical cord tightly wrapped around its neck.

A local resident, who goes by the name of Geetha, said she was alerted to the baby's presence by her milkman, who said he thought there was a kitten trapped somewhere nearby.

Geetha followed the faint crying sound until it led her to a water pipe near to her house in Chennai's Valsarvakkam area.

As she bent down and peered into the drain, she discovered that it wasn't a kitten at all. It was a tiny newborn baby screaming to be saved.

In the heart-wrenching video, Geetha is seen reaching deep into the drain to try and retrieve the baby by its tiny feet.

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As onlookers and neighbours let out screams of panic, Geetha pulls the baby boy to safety, unravelling the umbilical cord from around his tiny neck.

After Geetha washed the baby boy clean, he was rushed to the nearby Egmore Hospital. He was placed in a incubator and treated for breathing problems.

Speaking to a local media outlet, Geetha said: "I reacted immediately, it was spontaneous. As a dozen or so residents and bystanders looked on, I peeped through the drain - an iron pipe around one foot in diameter - and saw the child inside.

"It was painful to see a child dumped like that. It appeared that the person who abandoned the boy had deliberately pushed him deep enough inside the drain so he would be out of sight.

"I don't think there was any feeling for the child, because the umbilical cord seemed to be tied around the neck so it would slowly kill him."

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It's good news though; the baby boy was treated successfully and is said to have made a full recovery. The hospital has also received dozens of requests asking to adopt the miracle baby.

Geetha, 45, who said she would happily raise the boy if entrusted, named him Sugandhiram - which means freedom in Tamil - as he was found and saved on India's Independence Day.

She told local media outlet The News Minute: "I named him Sugandhiram because I found him on Independence Day. From today, he is Sugandhiram. He can grow up freely."

Topics: India

Megan Walsh

Megan is a freelance journalist and sub-editor with a BAHons degree in Journalism and Communications. Since graduating from London Metropolitan University, she has worked as a sub-editor and writer for Candis Magazine and later contributed to publications such as The Skinny, Creative Tourist and Huffington Post, among others.