Dead baby found on bus

A dead baby boy was found stuffed under a seat on a number 74 minibus in Bangkok's Khlong Toei district, police said on Wednesday.

The body was still attached to a placenta and left in three plastic bags just behind the driver's seat, said Colonel Charoen Srisasalak.

He was estimated to have been dead for up to 12 hours.

Police suspect the mother may have delivery the boy on her own and then abandoned him, Charoen said.

An autopsy will be carried out and the DNA recorded to help track down the mother.

Bus driver Paiboon Phanwong, 27, said he had no idea who left the bag.

Conductor Jeab Chantasit, 22, told police the bus was full when it left its station in Huai Khwang in the morning.

By the time the bus reached Saphan Kwai she said people started to notice the smell but they assumed it came from a passenger.

At the final stop in Klong Toei, Jeab said she opened the unclaimed plastic bag and called the police.

The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/05/03...es_30003110.php

Tragic, absolutely tragic. I hope that if they find the mother she gets help rather than punishment. Poor woman.

Terrible.

I know that bus depot - it's between Tesco's on Rama IV Road and that big Customs Dept. building near the exit to the expressway.

There is public access to the depot - I have got onto the No. 74 there before it has left for Hwuag Kwam. Probably very quiet at night - with no one likely to notice her.

The Klong Toei slum areas are within walking distance.

No doubt, a teen from the sound of things.

If only someone had noticed it a few hours before - or acted on the smell earlier -

And who says life's fair!

In some parts of the USA they have a safe baby abandonment law to try to prevent this sort of thing: http://www.babysafela.org