Baby found buried on Sydney beach was a girl, police say
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Postmortem confirms baby found buried was a girl
- Two boys find infant buried on beach on Sunday morning
- Police appeal for mother to come forward
- Gender, age of baby unable to be determined due to decomposition
(CNN) -- A day at the beach took a terrifying turn for two young boys who found a baby's decomposing body buried in a shallow grave.
The boys, aged six and seven, stumbled across the infant while playing in the sand at Maroubra, a popular beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs, on Sunday morning.
Police immediately cordoned off the area, and started digging around the grave for clues to the child's identity, as stunned beachgoers -- many there for a children's surf lifesaving carnival -- looked on.
On Monday, a postmortem confirmed the baby was a girl, a spokeswoman from New South Wales police told CNN.
She was found buried just 30 centimeters below the dunes, around 30 meters from the tide-line.
No other results were available from the autopsy, police said, including how old the child was and how she died.
Police have expressed concern about the welfare of the child's mother and have appealed for her to seek help.
Meanwhile, officers are checking missing persons reports, local hospitals and birth records to try to determine the identity of the mother and her baby.
Police said the two boys who found the child on the beach were receiving counseling from the local surf club.
The child is the second abandoned baby found in the city in recent weeks. Last week a mother was charged with attempted murder after allegedly shoving her child down a storm-water drain in the western suburb of Quakers Hill.
Police allege the newborn boy was pushed through a small hole and remained there for up to five days before passing cyclists heard him cry.
A 30-year-old woman was detained, and her case is scheduled to be heard in court on December 12.
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