Newborn baby buried alive and left for dead by ‘family who thought it had died’

A group of villagers have dug up an abandoned newborn baby boy who was buried alive in a cardboard box in eastern China.

Jiao Xinglu and Zhou Shangdong were foraging for mushrooms in the remote mountains near Laiwu, in east China’s Shandong Province, when they discovered the baby on August 21.

Mr Jiao heard a noise ‘like a dog barking’ near an area where the ground had been unsettled.

The baby’s family allegedly thought the baby had died the day after he was born after struggling with a serious lung infection. 

In the clip, Mr Jiao starts shoveling away the soil with his bare hands because the ‘crying grew faint and eventually stopped all together’ and more family and friends gathered around.

Moments later, the cardboard box appears and Mr Zhou opens it to examine the baby boy inside.

He peeks inside the blanket which reveals a sleeping boy who weighs just 3.4 lbs.

Mr Jiao opened the cardboard box to discover the baby who weighed just 3.4 lbs. The infant was later taken to the Second Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital of Shandong’s provincial capital of Jinan for treatment

A woman leans forward to catch a glimpse inside and the camera flashes into the box while people can be heard frantically talking and trying to make sense of it.

She unties the blanket’s ribbon and slowly opens it up to reveal a small baby resting.

People come over to the box and appear to have intense conversation with the woman who is now crouching by its side.

As the camera shifts closer to the baby, his eyes look as though they are flickering.

Mrs Shanghong , who discovered the baby and has two children, has said she would apply to adopt the baby if its family were not found

A small cry comes from the box and the infant repeats a word sounding similar to ‘mumma’.

The newborn’s arm begins to move and the woman gently prods the baby – trying to check its warmth and movement. They then wrap the blanket back around its miniature body. 

He was found suffering from anaemia and jaundice and transferred to the Second Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital of Shandong’s provincial capital of Jinan for treatment.

It is now at a healthy 8.8 lbs, after being stumbled upon nestled into a blanket in a box, and the police are investigating claims by an individual who claims to be the baby’s grandfather

But the baby has no congenital conditions and has since recovered to a healthy 8.8 lbs.

The man, who is allegedly the baby’s grandfather, came forward three days after the police announced they were trying to track the family down. He claims the baby had a serious lung infection and died the day after it was born

The police have opened an investigation after a man, claiming to be the baby’s grandfather, told them the baby had ‘stopped breathing’ and had a serious lung infection.

Mr Liu showed up at the Tai’an’s Yangliu Police Station three days after the police announced they were trying to track the family down as he had heard about it on the local news.

He said the boy ‘couldn’t breathe on his own’ – depending on a respiratory machine, on October 20.

Mr Liu told Asia Wire: ‘He died on the second day [after he was born]. He couldn’t drink or eat. After he died, we buried him.’

The man said he ‘can’t stop thinking about [the baby]’ and is happy and sad at the same time.

Mrs Shanghong, who discovered the baby and has two children, has said she would apply to adopt the baby if its family were not found.

It remains unclear whether this still stands as the grandfather has come forward. 

Local authorities are investigating Mr Liu’s claims.