Two dead newborns found in S. Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): A newborn boy was found dead Saturday in a garbage site on Jl. Gunawarman, Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta.

The dead infant, believed to be the first baby dumped this year, was estimated to be only a day old.

A scavenger found the baby wrapped in a plastic bag.

"It (the bag) was very eyecatching because it looked like it was full of rotten meat and smelled very bad," the scavenger was quoted by a neighborhood security guard as saying.

Akhmad Abdullah, the 45-year-old security guard, said the scavenger informed him about the plastic bag.

"When we checked (the bag) it was so sad to see the baby's fate," he said.

The baby was sent by the Kebayoran Baru Police Subprecinct to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta for a post mortem examination.

Meanwhile, another dead baby was found Wednesday under a bus seat of a Miniarta minibus, plying the Pasar Minggu-Depok II route.

The finding raised the 1997 death toll of newborn babies abandoned by their mothers to 53, more than double 1996's count of 24, but slightly above 1995's toll of 52.

The bus conductor found the baby in a sack, wrapped in a plastic bag.

"The conductor became curious after smelling a rotten odor from the passenger seats," a police officer who declined to be named said.

The finding caused a commotion in the bus which was passing along Jl. Margonda Raya, heading to Depok.

Police said they found bruises on the baby's head which, according to forensic doctors at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, was caused by the bus' movement.

"There were no signs of how the baby died," Bambang H.P., forensic doctor, said. (04)