A man in south
China who was desperate for a son has been detained for throwing his newborn girl off a cliff.
He took the baby, who had only been born for about six hours, from a hospital in Gaozhou, Guangdong province last Friday and placed her in a nylon bag before flinging her into the woods, Chinese media reported.
However, the girl miraculously survived for 12 hours after landing on some tree branches and was saved by rescuers.
Police were alerted to the incident after a doctor at Magui Health Centre called to report that a newborn girl had gone missing from the hospital, according to
Gaozhou Television.
Following an investigation, officers began to suspect the girl's father, surnamed Li.
The man finally admitted to placing his daughter into a large nylon bag and throwing her off a cliff in a rural area because he had hoped for a son instead, according to the report citing Magui district police.
Officers immediately led a team of rescuers and volunteers down the steep cliff to search for the baby girl.
Suddenly, the team heard the faint cries of the baby and were able to locate her about 30 metres (100 feet) down from the edge of the cliff, much to the relief of the rescuers.