Chinese police save infant girl from pipe in public toilet

BEIJING (AP) — A Beijing policeman rescued a newborn baby who was stuck face-down in a public toilet, reaching his arm down into the pipe to gently pull out the infant, police and reports said today.

The baby girl was in stable condition at a hospital in the Chinese capital, and authorities were trying to identify her parents and find out how she ended up in the toilet, police and Beijing Television said.

The local broadcaster aired a video taken by police of the rescue Sunday by officer Qian Feng after reports of cries in a public restroom in a Beijing alley.

"I am probably the first one to hold this child," Qian told the TV station in a later interview.

Unmarried mothers in China sometimes abandon newborns because of social stigma associated with out-of-wedlock births. Sometimes parents also discard children born with defects.