Four dead children found under bridge

Police have found the bodies of four children under a bridge and believe one may have been murdered, chinanews.com reports.

The gruesome remains were discovered on Feb 1 after a man asked police in Xiangshui County, Jiangsu province to help him find the body of his dead daughter. He claimed his estranged wife had paid a hospital to handle the remains following her death.

Authorities said three of the dead children - allegedly improperly disposed of by the hospital, are not thought to have died in suspicious circumstances.

Police believe a fourth child, who was named as Sun Ji'er, was beaten to death.

Sun Hailang has allegedly confessed to police that on Jan 21 he kicked the child in the back and abdomen because she was making too much noise, stopping her mother Wu Weiwei from going to work.

The couple took the child to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. The hospital agreed to bury the body because the mortuary was demolished in Nov 2011.

The investigation is ongoing.

In March 2010, the corpses of 21 infants and foetuses were found in a river in Shandong province,

Two mortuary workers were arrested and two medical staff sacked after at least eight of the bodies had tags indicating they were from a hospital.