A newborn baby is recovering in hospital after being found stuck face down in the pipe of a public toilet.
The baby girl, who is in a stable condition at a hospital in Beijing, was plucked to safety by a policeman who reached his arm down the pipe.
Officer Qian Feng lept into action after receiving reports of cries in a public restroom in an alley in the Chinese capital on Sunday.
He spotted the newborn's feet and before firegfighters arrived, got down on the ground to pull the baby out, Beijing Television reported.
In an interview with the television station, the police officer said he was "probably the first one to hold this child".
Speaking to the Beijing Times, Qian Feng said: “The baby’s head was pointing downwards and her whole body had already fallen into the drain. We could only see the baby’s feet from the side.”
Beijing Television also reported the mother may have given birth to the baby girl, who weighed 4lb 4oz, directly into the toilet and pulled off the umbilical cord.
Police said the infant does not appear to have any 'physical defects'.
In China, unmarried mothers are believed to sometimes abandon newborns because of the stigma associated with out-of-wedlock births and some parents also refuse to accept children who have disabilities.
Authorities are now trying to find the baby's parents and establish how she ended up in the toilet.
