Body of newborn found in Phuket rubber plantation

PHUKET: Police are hunting for the mother of a newborn baby found dead in a Phuket rubber plantation this afternoon.

Patong Police were notified of the body at about 12:30pm today by a resident who had gone to the Baan Kaen Lek plantation on Phetchakut Road to pick mushrooms.

“The man told officers that he smelled something bad, followed the odor and came across the body,” Patong Deputy Superintendent Khunnadet Na Nongkhai told the Phuket Gazette.

“The baby was found with umbilical cord still attached and had been partially dismembered by an animal.”

Police believe that the baby had been dead for about three days, and are now questioning local villagers to track down the mother.

“We should be able to find the mother quickly, as she would have been recently pregnant,” Col Khunnadet said.

Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers took the newborn’s body to Patong Hospital to determine cause of death.

Several newborns are abandoned in Phuket each year, with the most recent one found alive in the back of a pick-up truck in April (story here), which compelled the Gazette to take an in-depth look into the troubles some soon-to-be mothers face as a result of unwanted pregnancies (story here).

— Thawit Bilabdullar