Miracle Baby Survives After 8 Days Buried Alive, Parents Abandoned Him Over a Cleft Lip

International   |   Sarah Zagorski   |   May 14, 2015   |   6:29PM   |   Washington, DC

In China, a newborn was buried alive and left to die by his parents because he has a cleft lip. However, miraculously, the boy survived even though he was alone underground for eight days. The parents claim that the boy’s grandparents helped conspire to kill the child by hiring a man to get rid of him and paying $290.

Now the parents, grandparents and the man who carried out the attempted murder are in police custody. The deputy director of pediatrics at Tiandong County People’s Hospital, Wu Weilli, said the boy’s parents acted abnormally when their son was born.

He said, “Normal parents ask the hospital to provide birth certificate and arrange for medical insurance, but this family didn’t want a birth certificate and left immediately after paying the bill. We do not know what exactly happened during the period of time when the baby was discharged from the hospital on April 24, and when he was admitted to the hospital again on May 4.”

Additionally, Weilli said that many children are left to die in China because they have special needs. He concluded, “…I still can’t believe parents can abandon their own babies. Cleft lip and palate are treatable and many public interest organizations would like to provide funds for those kids.

Initially, the woman who found the child, Lu Fenglian, thought she was hearing the spirits of a local monk but later realized it was a baby. Fenglian was picking herbs on the hillside in China’s Guangxi province when she made the discovery.

Unbelievably, the infant’s parents were recently released on bail and are seeking custody of the boy. In fact, they even wrote a letter of apology and said they would never hurt their son again. The head of the county’s civil affairs bureau responded and said, “We worry that the baby’s parents may hurt him again. Even though they will not, this tragedy may haunt the family and affect the boy’s mental health.”

The location where the baby’s parents buried him alive:

Pic shows: The place where the baby was buried alive by his parents. A newborn baby was rescued by police after being buried alive by his parents for more than a week. The month-old baby boy was found buried in the woods after his muted cries spooked a woman who was collecting herbs in a remote area outside Tiandong County, which is in south central China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The woman Lu Fenglian said she heard what sounded like a child crying coming from beneath the earth. Fearing that she had stumbled upon "spirits", she ran to a Buddhist temple and asked an elderly monk to verify her discovery. The monk, 75-year-old Zhao Shimin, then went with Fenglian to where the woman heard the cries, and realised that it appeared a child must have been buried under the ground. Shimin telephoned local authorities, who arrived and began digging up the hillside until they found the child – abandoned by his parents because of a cleft lip and left to die. Local police tracked down the baby’s boys parents, who admitted to committing the act with the help of relatives an incredible 8 days previously. The child’s mother claims that she and her husband were persuaded by their own mothers to abandon the child. The parents and all relatives involved have been taken into police custody. The child was taken to a local hospital, where he has miraculously recovered. Authorities said the newborn survived underground because of rain water and air that seeped through the loosely covered rocky ground. Local village residents claimed they knew the couple was expecting a new child, but they were told by the parents that the child had died soon after birth. One told local TV: "They said he had been buried, we never knew they meant alive." (ends)

Here’s more:

The baby was rushed to the Tian Dong County People’s Hospital where he received emergency medical treatment. His carer, named Aunty Liu, said that when the baby arrived at the hospital he was in a very bad condition and he had to be kept in an incubator for several days.

Shockingly, as doctors cleaned the dirt off the baby’s body he coughed up a thick black substance that doctors reported was dirt that he had been swallowing while underground.

Sources have suggested that the baby was able to survive because rainwater provided him with sufficient moisture.

After several days of medical attention his condition has stabilised enough for him to be removed from the incubator.

Priest Zhao added that many people choose to be buried in the Feng Long Ridge area due to its good Feng Shui. Zhao said: ‘The baby was buried among numerous unmarked graves and was still found alive, so he must be blessed.’

The parents of the baby have been traced following the discovery, and have been revealed to be a young couple from nearby Siping Village in Ping Ma town.

Watch the video below to learn more about this remarkable story.