Newborn baby found dead after being left in snow outside Chicago fire station | world news | Breaking News Updates

A newborn baby has been found dead after being left in a duffel bag outside a fire station in Chicago.

Officials told local media that a fire crew found the boy in the snow-covered bag around 5 a.m. Saturday outside the Near North Side fire station.

“They were so in and out that morning that no one heard the doorbell,” Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

Baby Shelter Act

In the state of Illinois, parents can turn over their newborn to hospitals, police, or fire stations without fear of prosecution under the state’s Safe Haven for Babies law.

The fire station was a designated shelter.

Authorities said they don’t know how long the baby was out in freezing temperatures, or if he was alive when he was left.

Baby should have been put back

Mr Langford said the fire station is used as an air supply maintenance facility, which means crews are often servicing supplies at other fire stations.

He said that although the fire station is a safe haven, the babies must be “passed from person to person”.

“We’re trying to make it clear that you have to make contact. Ringing a bell is not contact. You have to physically see someone and hand over the child,” Mr Langford said.

“If the person left the child there, and we don’t recommend that, and called 911 to say the child is there, someone would have been dispatched.”

The police are investigating and trying to obtain surveillance footage.