Police are searching for the mother of a baby boy who abandoned her child in an apartment in Thailand.

The infant was crying in a dark, dusty corridor when he was discovered by a tenant at the staff housing in 'Sin City' Pattaya

Rescuers arrived at the decrepit building - a dormitory for hotel workers - after being alerted at 7:50 am local time on October 10.

Officers found the blood-covered boy draped in a blanket as he lay on the floor crying weakly, his umbilical cord still intact.

The newborn, believed to have been born just four hours earlier, was rushed to the Pattaya City Hospital where he is in stable condition. Nurses said he was healthy and weighed 2.3 kilogrammes (five pounds).

Noi, a hotel employee who discovered the boy, said: 'At around 7 am, I suddenly heard a baby crying loudly in the building. I was alarmed because no one in the dormitory had been pregnant, and there was no one to care for a baby.

'I rushed downstairs to find where the sound was coming from. When I reached the dark corridor, I turned on my phone's flashlight and was shocked to see a baby lying on the floor crying. I immediately called rescue workers for help.'

Police Captain Pakorn Prakobnan of Pattaya City Police Station said: 'Investigators inspected the area and believed that an outsider sneaked in and left the baby inside the dormitory. We are checking security cameras to find the parent for legal action.'

The boy's parents may be prosecuted for abandonment under Thai Penal Code Section 306, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, a fine of up to 6,000 Baht (138 GBP), or both.

(1 GBP = 43.43 THB)