July 4, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3,1424

NEW DELHI, July 3: An Indian newborn baby girl buried alive by her father survived 15 hours underground because she had unwittingly been placed among stones, creating room for her to breathe.

Sudama Patel, from Kailashpur village in Madhya Pradesh state, buried his child alive soon after she was born Monday because he was irate that she was a girl.

Patel, 30, already has two daughters and did not want another, so he threw the baby in a hold and buried her, despite protests by his wife.

The mother of the child went to the police, who more than 15 hours later managed to locate the grave and rescue the baby — still alive but weeping.

Police told the newspaper the infant had survived because her father had buried her among stones which had allowed enough space for her to breathe.—AFP