SHARJAH // The parents of a new-born Egyptian baby who was found dead after falling down a rubbish chute have been arrested, police confirmed yesterday. The three-day-old baby was found dead near the bottom of a chute at the Burj al Arab building on Jamal Abdul Nasser road in Sharjah. The baby's parents lived on the sixth floor of the building. It was not known whether the child was alive before it fell down the chute.
Abubaker Mohammed, 34, the Bangladeshi caretaker of the building, said he was outside collecting rubbish and cleaning the area when the baby suddenly fell out of the chute. "The baby did not have any clothes on it," he said. "It was as if it had just been born." The watchman called one of the owners of the building, Mohammed Khamis, who called police. They arrested the Egyptian mother and called her husband, who was at work, to order him to report to Buhairah police station.
A neighbour of the couple, a Palestinian mother of two, Asma bint Ahmad, described the couple as a young and loving family. The baby was their first child, she said. "I saw her all the time when she was pregnant," said Mrs Ahmad. "One time I found her on the stairs and helped her to come up." She said that on Thursday night the husband was seen with two other relatives carrying the woman to the hospital. She did not see her neighbour again until the arrest. Mrs Ahmad said the family had lived in the flat for about a year. At first, they shared it with another family, who moved out around three months ago.
A police source added that a post-mortem examination was due to be performed. ykakande@thenational.ae
