This is the shocking moment an abandoned baby was saved by a Good Samaritan after being left naked in long grass with its umbilical cord still attached.
Traffic engineering firm worker Alexandre da Silva Dias de Freitas alerted police after spotting the infant at 6.30am on Monday morning in Rio de Janeiro.
Officers took the little boy, who weighed just 5.4lbs, to a nearby hospital where he was put in an intensive care neo-natal unit.
Police are now investigating how the baby ended up in the grass under steps by a busy road called Brazil Avenue in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro.
The officers who rushed the youngster to the Maternidade Alexander Fleming Hospital posed for pictures with Alexandre and the baby they helped save, this time wrapped up tight in a blanket as he received the care he needed.
The baby is believed to have been born just a few days short of the standard 40 weeks a pregnancy normally lasts.
Newborn baby weighing just 5.4lbs was found in long grass in Rio De Janeiro after being abandoned with his umbilical cord still attached
The newborn is believed to have been abandoned shortly before he was found as he was in good health.
The area he had been left in, a neighbourhood known as Barros Filho, is one of the poorest parts of Rio de Janeiro.
The astonishing footage of the baby boy lying alone in the grass – with two men thought to be Alexandre and a colleague at CET-Rio – showed how lucky he was to have been found.
He was found in Barros Filho, one of the poorest parts of Rio de Janeiro, by traffic engineering firm worker Alexandre da Silva Dias de Freitas
One of the shocked workers, recording with a mobile phone, said: ‘It’s alive’.
The other replied: ‘Call the emergency services.’
Another man said: ‘That’s really cowardly, that. He’s just been born.’
They try to reach the baby and wrap him up in something as Alexandre adds: ‘Put him in here, put him in my vest.’
Alexandre and his colleague are shocked to find the baby boy and try to wrap him in a work vest to keep him warm
Hero Alexandre spoke to a local TV station later, with tears in his eyes.
He said: ‘When I looked down and saw this little thing with its arms squashed up tight against its chest, I thought at first it was a doll.
‘I wrapped it up warm in my overall and alerted a nearby police patrol.
‘Knowing that this day, December 18 with Christmas just around the corner, I saved a life is something that will always stay with me.’
Police officers posed with hero Alexandre and the newborn baby after he had been treated by hospital staff
The baby boy was rescued by Alexandre who called the police after finding him and they then rushed him to a nearby hospital
Police officer Inacio Carvalho said: ‘We got a real surprise. It’s not the normal type of request we get asking for our help.’
An angry local resident took to Facebook after learning of the news to write: ‘What a blessing that this man found her. When will this sort of thing stop happening? I hope this child finds a loving mum.’
Another well-wisher, Antonio Fernandes, added: ‘Thank God he was found. He could have been attacked by ants or rats.’
Outraged locals took to Facebook to express their shock at the baby being found with one saying that he could’ve ‘been attacked by ants or rats’