Woman strangles her newborn baby in Dubai airport

In a horrific crime, a woman strangulated her newborn baby after giving birth in an airport toilet in Dubai and then took a flight after dumping the tiny corpse in a rubbish bin, a media report said Tuesday.

The mother - believed to be Ethiopian and in her thirties - caught a flight before the infant's body was discovered by a cleaner at the Dubai International Airport, Daily Mail reported.

She was identified using security camera footage and is being hunted by police.

The woman allegedly severed the baby boy's umbilical cord with her bare hands and strangled him with a cloth before dumping him.

The infant was discovered when a woman passenger informed one of the airport's cleaners about a pool of blood in the bathroom.

Traces of blood led to the bin where the baby was found, soaked in blood, tied up with his umbilical cord in a tightly wrapped plastic bag.

The boy was still gasping for breath but a rescue team and volunteers could not revive him.

"At around 3.35 a.m. I went to the toilet to clean up the blood around a toilet bowl," the cleaner told the Khaleej Times newspaper.

"After that I decided to empty the waste bin which was covered with paper rolls.

"When I lifted it I found it to be a little heavier, so I got curious and started removing the tissue papers.

"I was stunned to see a baby all blue on the face and gasping for breath."

It is unclear whether the woman was a UAE resident, tourist or passenger in transit.

A security source said it appeared the woman had strangled the infant, whose body was undergoing further tests.

"Most likely the woman wanted to get rid of the baby as it was a child outside wedlock," said the source.

"It seems that the woman had intended to leave the UAE before the delivery but was faced with a different reality in the airport."

Having a sexual relationship or a child outside wedlock are criminal offences in the UAE that carry sentences of up to three years in prison.

Many unmarried women who become pregnant choose either to leave the country or abandon the youngster.

A total of 17 children were abandoned in the first eight months of 2008, according to the most recent statistics available from Dubai's Ministry of Social Affairs.

It is not known how many newborns are killed or die after being abandoned.