A newborn baby boy has been rescued after he was buried alive by his 25-year-old mother in a shallow grave.

The baby was discovered three days after he was left to die by workers at the timber factory where his mother worked.

Face of Malawi learnt  that the factory workers heard him crying from the grave and alerted the authorities.

His mother had buried the baby at the factory located at Paddock town in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa because she feared her parents would be upset that she had a second child.

Captain Gerald Mfeka said: “They searched and found him hidden underneath some timber, covered in sand.”

“On hearing the commotion, the mother confessed that the child was hers. Her explanation was that she was afraid of her parents. This was her second child, the elder one being four years old, and she felt her parents would not approve of another baby.”

The boy was placed in an intensive care unit at the nearby Port Shepstone Regional Hospital.

Meanwhile, the baby‘s mother was also taken to the hospital and later released, although no charges have been made against her yet.