Newborn with umbilical cord still attached found abandoned on a bridge in Texas

A newborn baby with its umbilical cord still attached was rescued by a couple walking with their child in Texas. The newborn had been abandoned on a bridge in the state and a man was caught on camera doing so.

According to Sergeant Juan Garcia of the Harris County Sheriff's Department, the premature girl still had fresh placenta, so it was a just-born child and was found at Bear Creek, in the city of Katy, just west of Houston on Saturday (June 15).

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CCTV footage showsthe suspect walking deliberately to the bridge carrying the child. He then sets the baby down and walks away at a measured pace before breaking into a sudden sprint and disappearing from view.

Notably, temperatures in the area over the weekend reached as high as 95F (35C), according to the National Weather Agency, so the little girl would have had little chance of survival.

Luckily, a young couple walking their child and dogs spotted the newborn and immediately called the police.

Daniela Fedele, who spotted the newborn baby, first told NBC News affiliate KPRC 2, "We were coming back from our walk this morning, heading home because it was really hot when I went ahead and looked closer, that's when I noticed a little baby with like her two feet moving.

“I thought I was hallucinating! A baby, just lying there? This can't be real."

"I hold it. The baby opens their eyes to me, looked at me,” her husband, Luis Marin, added.

"We make eye contact. And I'm like, how can somebody just do this?"

Sergeant Garcia hailed the couple as a blessing, crediting their vigilance for spotting the suspect leaving the scene before they heroically rescued the abandoned child.

(With inputs from agencies)