The decomposed body of a full-term infant was pulled from the Kingston canal yesterday by a sluice attendant.

Police have launched an investigation to ascertain who dumped the baby in the canal; the discovery was made around 1 pm by a group of schoolchildren. The children alerted the sluice attendant, Paul Samuels.

Samuels retrieved the corpse which he described as “fully developed” with the umbilical cord still attached.  He said the body was floating in the canal towards the opened koker door and according to him it would have drifted off into the Demerara River if he did not intervene.

The body was subsequently removed from the scene by the Lyken Funeral Home. Police were forced to cordon off the area after a small crowd gathered to get a glimpse of the infant. Some persons gathered lamented the manner in which the child was treated.

The police in a press release stated that the body had a wound to its throat. The police said anyone with information that may lead to the identification of the child is asked to contact them on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-7065, 225-6941, 225-3052, 911 or the nearest police station.