Children playing at a Sydney beach yesterday stumbled across the body of a baby buried under the sand, investigators said, just a week after a newborn was found crying at the bottom of a roadside drain.
New South Wales police said they had established a crime scene at the beach in the eastern Sydney suburb of Maroubra after the grisly discovery yesterday morning.
“A number of children were playing at the southern end of South Beach when they located the body of a baby in the sand,” police said in a statement. “Investigations into the child’s death are continuing, however, the age and sex of the child is yet to be determined.”
Photo: AFP
Inspector Andrew Holland said the “very small infant child” was buried naked under about 30cm of sand near the edge of some dunes, adding that the boys who found the body were just six and seven years old.
“The children were digging — the child was buried under about 30 centimeters of sand,” Holland told reporters. “The two young children reported to their father who was nearby, who in turn contacted police.”
“Unfortunately due to the decomposition, we can’t tell [the age of the baby] at this point,” he said.
Investigators were also unable to immediately say how long the body had been there, he said.
Holland said investigators were looking through birth and hospital records, as well as consulting with the Missing Persons Unit to try and find the child’s parents.
A postmortem would be carried out to determine how the baby died, police added.
Randwick Mayor Ted Seng said South Maroubra is one of the area’s more isolated beaches, but that it was patrolled by council lifeguards and volunteer surf lifesavers.
“To say that I’m shocked is an understatement,” Seng added in a statement. “I cannot imagine the circumstances that lead to this tragic event.”
A newborn baby was found crying at the bottom of a roadside drain in Sydney by passing cyclists on Sunday last week, with police saying he had been in the drain since the previous Tuesday.
The baby’s mother remains in custody after she was charged with attempted murder, with the case to return to court on Dec. 12.
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