Gruesome: Discarded Babies and Fetuses Wash Up From China River

This may be both the saddest and sickest story I've seen in ages. It's bad enough they have forced abortions in China, but to just throw the babies out like trash? WTF? And not just terminated fetuses, but babies that (allegedly) died after birth, or as they might be known here, really late-term abortions.

Staffers at an eastern Chinese hospital have been disciplined after the bodies of 21 fetuses and infants were found improperly discarded near a river, according to officials and media reports.

A total of 21 bodies were found near the Guangfu River, Jining City officials said in a statement Tuesday.

"The investigation has found that the Jining Hospital Affiliated Medical College mortuary staff violated hospital management policies/regulations," the statement said.

No foul play was found in the deaths of the children. "It was determined that the babies died in normal circumstances," Li Wanmei, section chief for the Jining City Health Bureau, told the television network.

The hospital's deputy director and the deputy director of its logistics department were removed, the statement said. In addition, two staffers working in the "repose room" of the hospital were fired "and have been detained according to the law."

The dead children and fetuses were believed to have died from illness, and the two staffers, Zhu Zhenyu and Wang Zhijun, verbally agreed with relatives to dispose of the bodies and took money from them, but instead secretly transported the bodies to the river, the statement said.

The bodies, which officials said "were not fully buried," were found after media reports prompted officials to investigate, the statement said.

Shanghai, China-based Oriental Cable TV reported the initial discovery was made by area residents. "I found the bodies while I was herding the geese," a resident said. "How could I possibly sleep? I haven't eaten for two days."

CNN really doesn't go that far. Al-Jazeera English implies something more sinister.

"There is a great deal more still to come out on this story which is certainly receiving a lot of play [in the media] here in China.

"These sort of scandals ... result often in action from local government officials who want to be seen to act."
...
Interviews with residents who discovered the bodies floating near the shore over the weekend were broadcast on the website of the Shandong Broadcasting Company, IQILU.com.

The footage shows bodies, some uncovered and others in bags, lying on parts of the bank of the river, many covered in dirt.

One of the bluish-green identification tags visible in the video indicates the baby was born in April 2009.

People's Daily said all the bodies were of babies, while Xinhua said several were foetuses.