Box of joy: Thai woman rescues abandoned newborn in Rayong

A Thai woman yesterday rescued an abandoned newborn baby boy found in a cardboard box on the roadside in the eastern province of Rayong.

The 33 year old woman, Wanida, reported the discovery to officers at Pluak Daeng Police Station. She explained that she noticed the abandoned baby while picking up her child from school.

Wanida said her child found the box while playing by the roadside as they walked home from school. Her child then asked her to check on the baby.

Channel 7 reported that the baby boy was wearing a nappy and wrapped in a pink towel. He was reportedly born no more than five hours before being discovered and was healthy and crying loudly in the box.

Police coordinated with a rescue team and arrived at the scene together. The rescuers fed the infant boy baby formula before taking him to Pluak Daeng Hospital. Police are now reviewing security camera footage from near the scene to identify the mother who abandoned him.

A similar story was reported on July 3, when a garbage collector discovered two newborn twin boys at the back of a garbage truck. Tragically, unlike the case above, the twins were already dead. Police believe the babies were born prematurely at around six to seven months’ gestation.

Further investigation led to the identification of the mother who had abandoned the twins. She was a Burmese woman living in a dormitory in the area where the bodies were found. The woman was arrested a week after the discovery and admitted to abandoning the babies, confessing to having entered Thailand illegally.

Another related story in June involved a newborn baby boy left in a bag on the roadside in Chon Buri. The infant’s mother was suspected to be a student or worker at a factory near the scene. Fortunately, the baby boy was rescued safe and healthy.