A newborn boy abandoned on roadside wasteland was rescued by villagers in Thailand.

Resident Buakham Liapprasert had been walking to her house when she heard the child's cries coming from the overgrown patch of undergrowth in Samut Prakan province near Bangkok on October 4 afternoon.

She followed the sounds and was shocked to find the naked infant covered in ants while lying inside a carton hidden in the tall grass.

Scrawled on the cardboard box was a message, believed to be from the boy's mum, saying: 'Please take this little one and raise him in place of me.'

Buakham notified the village council chief, Yuthasak Klomklom, who then called local authorities for assistance.

The residents cleaned up the child and bundled him up in a towel before handing him over to nurses at the Bang Bo District Hospital.

Yuthasak said: 'It should not be difficult finding the mother because there are many surveillance cameras in this area.'

Officers said they were coordinating with the Samut Prakan Shelter for Children and Families to arrange for the boy's care.

Police Colonel Thanupetch Chamalerk, superintendent of the Klong Dan Subdistrict police station, said: 'Investigations are ongoing to quickly find the whereabouts of this cruel mother and prosecute her according to the law. We are also coordinating with hospitals in the vicinity to check for recent childbirth records.

'It was lucky this baby was found quickly. If he were left here overnight, he could have been bitten by poisonous animals.'