Day-Old Infant Rescued After Spending 15 Hours in Pit Latrine

After spending over 15 hours in a pit latrine, abandoned by the mother, a day-old baby girl was rescued by police officers attached to the Gatanga Police Station.

She was rushed to the Thika Level 5 Hospital for emergency care but was declared out of danger and could be discharged.

It was nothing short of a miracle for the baby to survive in the 20-foot latrine, according to police and the medics who attended to her.

A file image of four pit latrines.

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According to the police, the infant was reportedly dumped by the mother before her rescue on Wednesday, November 30.

According to Gatanga Police boss Laurence Njeru, the police had received reports of a woman from Kimandi Wanyaga village who reportedly gave birth but the infant was nowhere to be seen.

"Her co-workers had noticed that she was no longer pregnant but she had no baby to show and she could not explain her condition,"

"The Ndaka-ini Police Station commander plus some officers went to the woman's house for interrogation and she confessed to giving birth and dumped the baby in the latrine," Njeru explained.

Notably, the hospital named the baby 'Angel' for surviving the horrific ordeal inside a latrine for close to a day.

"We are happy and acknowledge the miracle. So far so good because she has been ruled fit to live," Njeru stated.

It is reported that the mother was a tea picker and the latrine where she threw her infant was rarely used thus it would have taken longer to hear the baby cry.

The 29-year-old mother will be charged with attempted murder and failing to declare the birth of the baby.

In similar incident in reported in Murang'a county in 2020, a mother blamed the harsh economic times for throwing her infant in a pit latrine.

Tea farmers in the field

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