The news that an infant of just a few days old was buried alive by his 17-year-old mother and grandmother is causing horror in Turkey.
The unfortunate child was found in Adıyaman Cemetery by a group of high school students and was taken to hospital after being first dug up.
The baby – named Fatma by the nurses – is being treated at the hospital, while the mother and grandmother have been arrested.
According to the Turkish Yeni Safak, the two women were taken to prison, while the baby was placed under state protection.
What the two women say
They claimed that their goal was not to kill the child, but that they had left him in the cemetery in order for someone to take care of him.
According to the grandmother, the 17-year-old found out about her condition in the 7th month of pregnancy and the father of the child is said to be a friend of hers.
The grandmother was afraid that something might happen to her daughter and because they could not explain the situation to anyone, they wanted to hand over the baby to a childcare facility, but realized that they could not as the mother was a minor and was not officially married.
So, they thought that someone else could find the baby and told them to leave it in the cemetery.
The two women reportedly dug a grave and left the baby there, throwing some soil on it, but allowing the baby to breathe.
