China uproar over dead babies dumped near river

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese officials have sought to contain public outrage after workers at a hospital dumped 21 dead fetuses and infants' bodies near a river bank.

The corpses were discovered near a bridge in Jining, a city in Shandong province on China's east coast, abandoned there by staff at a local hospital morgue, according to Chinese news reports that have stirred sharp public criticism.

Authorities have not said how the infants and fetuses died, but news reports said some of the fetuses had been aborted.

Police and medical investigators found that two morgue workers, Zhu Zhenyu and Wang Zhijun, had "privately struck oral agreements with the families of the deceased babies to dispose of their remains and had taken payments from them," the state-run Xinhua news agency said. The two have been detained.

The parents, apparently unable or reluctant to pay for proper burial or cremation, entrusted their dead to the two. Cremation in China can cost thousands of yuan (hundreds of dollars), depending on how elaborate the service.

"They took the corpses to near the Guangfu River and disposed off them. They failed to bury them properly, so that they were exposed to view and discovered," reported Xinhua.

For many ordinary Chinese, who often lament lax and increasingly expensive medical care, the dumping of the 21 dead fetuses and infants is indicative of deeper healthcare woes.

"This is shocking. It makes me wonder whether this is a civilized society," said one commentator on a Chinese-language Internet website.