A newborn baby girl wrapped in a bath towel has been found dumped outside a church in the Philippines.
The infant - believed to only be a few hours old - was found bloodied with her umbilical cord still attached in front of Tabango Church in Leyte province on August 27 at 4.30am.
She cried loudly until a resident heard her and called the police before they rushed her to the hospital.
The baby girl, named Angel by her rescuers, was found healthy after being screened by medics and given vaccines.
Police Corporal Geraldine Padoga of the Women and Children Protection Desk said: "The baby will be turned over to MSWDO (Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office) for proper care and disposition of the child."
Officers found her with the resident and her neighbours, still wrapped in the blue towel and crying out of hunger.
Medics estimated the baby was born only four hours before she was abandoned in front of the church.
Authorities are now looking for the girl's parents. They believe she was born at home as there were no records about her in the hospital and clinics.
Concerned residents also donated clothes, diapers, milk, and feeding bottles to baby Angel, whom they consider lucky for being found in front of their local church.
Officer Padoga added: "We will do our best to find the persons who did this. We also want to remind our citizens to seek help if they can't take care of your babies for some reason, instead of resorting to these illegal acts."
Angel will be placed in social care and put up for adoption.
Earlier this year, a man abandoned as a newborn on Boxing Day 61 years ago issued an appeal to find his birth family.
The Mirror described day-old Harvey Shackell as a “beautiful blue-eyed baby boy” when he was left on a doorstep in a cardboard box in 1960.
Our story, published on December 28 that year told how the infant had been left outside a family home in Hayes, Middlesex.
He was temporarily christened Christopher by nurses at Hillingdon Hospital before he was eventually adopted by his emergency foster parents and renamed.
Now Harvey, 61, a step-dad of two, is hoping to find out more about his mysterious past.
The service engineer is planning to take a DNA test in the hope it can connect him with his long-lost relatives.
