A dead baby was found in a consigned suitcase by security staff yesterday at Guangzhou railway station in Guangdong Province, a Nanjing-based newspaper reported today.

A scare spread among passengers after security workers found the body, about three-months old, when the metal suitcase was passing through an X-ray scanner about 4:30pm yesterday, Modern Express, a newspaper under the Xinhua news agency in Jiangsu Province, reported.

The suitcase was opened at the scene and some passengers saw the baby's body, the report said.

The report cited a cargo worker surnamed Li as saying that the suitcase was full of black fluid and smelled stingy. The body was immersed in the fluid and some human organs were also found inside the suitcase, Li told the newspaper.

Police cordoned off the area and detained some people for questioning, the report said.

The consigned suitcase was going to Chengdu City, capital of Sichuan Province, according to a receipt, the report said.

The report quoted an unnamed railway station employee as saying police were investigating whether the body was a sample for medical use. Police have not confirmed this theory, the report said.

In China, consigning human body samples, which are supposed to be embalmed first, requires approval from government authorities as well as confirmation from inspection and quarantine watchdogs.

(Shanghai Daily July 17, 2008)