Newborn found on train

A week-old baby girl has been discovered on an intercity train in Basel. All attempts to locate the mother have proved fruitless.

Basel authorities said on Friday the infant, who weighed three kilos, was in good health and being looked after at an undisclosed location.

She was discovered in a baby carrier outside the toilets by a train guard just after 5pm on Wednesday. No one came forward to claim the newborn after a public announcement on the train, which was going from Basel to Baden in Germany.

The dark-haired baby’s appearance implies it could come from eastern Russia, Mongolia or Kazakhstan, said the authorities. She also had a birthmark on her coccyx, known as a Mongolian Spot, and had had a blood sample taken from her heel a couple of days previously.

A passenger claims to have heard a woman speaking a Slavic language and crying, before getting off the train before it left Basel.

Police however are keeping all options open, including the possibility that the infant was snatched from its mother.