Firefighters in eastern China have rescued an abandoned newborn baby boy lodged in a sewage pipe directly beneath a toilet commode.

China's state television CCTV reported that the infant was found in the sewage pipe in a residential building in Jinhua city, Zhejiang Province at around 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoon after residents reported the sound of a baby crying.

Firefighters cut down the sewage pipe and rushed to the local hospital after they failed to take out the baby who stuck in the pipe.

CCTV carried the footage showing firefighters removing the pipe piece by piece and taking out the newborn baby with the help of doctors.

The baby is now in stable condition and police are looking for his parents, CCTV said.

There are frequent reports in Chinese media of babies being abandoned, often shortly after birth.

It's a problem attributed variously to young mothers unaware they were pregnant, the birth of an unwanted girl in a society which puts greater value on boys, or China's strict family planning rules.