A SECURITY OFFICER working at Manila airport in the Philippines made a shocking discovery on Monday when he investigated movements coming from inside a refuse bin left on the tarmac.

Amongst the rubbish, covered in blood and wrapped in tissue paper, was the body of a barely-alive baby boy.

The six-pound-nine-ounce newborn had already turned blue. Medical staff said that if had not been found when he was, he could have died within minutes.

Airport press officer Connie Bungag described the child as being been “left for dead.”

The baby was cleaned and wrapped in cloth and mittens by doctors and nurses, warmed under a a light-bulb and given a bottle of milk. Nurse Kate Calvo said that only then did the baby begin to cry softly.

The infant was then given a name: George Francis, after the airline Gulf Air.

The airline has launched an internal inquiry into the incident.

Identity of the mother

The child was found in a bin unloaded from a commercial flight coming in from Bahrain. Philippine authorities are now attempting to identify the mother of the baby.

There are suspicions that the mother may be a Filipino woman working as a domestic worker in the Middle East.

“If she’s a migrant worker, this speaks of the ordeal our overseas workers go through,” said Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.

About one in ten Filipino women are employed as migrant workers in the Middle East to escape severe poverty. Recently, the plight of some migrant workers who have been abused by employers have come to light.