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By Tamlyn Jolly

Journalist


Newborn baby rescued from pit toilet

Not wanting the baby, the young mother threw it down her family’s outside toilet and retreated to the house.


A newborn baby miraculously survived the first hours of its life despite spending them at the bottom of an outside toilet in KwaMbonambi, in KwaZulu-Natal.

After keeping her pregnancy a secret, the baby’s 21-year-old mother gave birth last Wednesday at 5am, Zululand Observer reported.

Not wanting the baby, the young mother threw it down her family’s outside toilet and retreated to the house.

Hearing feverish cries emanating from the toilet some hours later, the woman’s mother notified community leaders, the CPF (Community Police Forum) and KwaMbonambi SAPS, who in turn notified the KwaMbonambi Fire Department.

Good teamwork saw all concerned community members and officials present pitching in to lower the firefighter into the long-drop toilet with a rope and heaving him out with the infant.

Miraculously, the baby was still alive despite having had no nourishment since its arrival into the world.

The infant was immediately taken to KwaMbonambi Clinic for treatment and later transferred to Lower Umfolozi District War Memorial Hospital in Empangeni.

The mother of the newborn was arrested last Friday and is scheduled to make her first court appearance at KwaMbonambi Magistrates’ Court today .

– Caxton News Service

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